diff --git a/accounts/pkg/command/root.go b/accounts/pkg/command/root.go
index b84480007..b2f4740b1 100644
--- a/accounts/pkg/command/root.go
+++ b/accounts/pkg/command/root.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package command
 import (
 	"context"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/owncloud/ocis/accounts/pkg/config"
 	ociscfg "github.com/owncloud/ocis/ocis-pkg/config"
@@ -82,6 +83,12 @@ func ParseConfig(c *cli.Context, cfg *config.Config) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// sanitize config
+	if cfg.HTTP.Root != "/" {
+		cfg.HTTP.Root = strings.TrimSuffix(cfg.HTTP.Root, "/")
+	}
+	cfg.Repo.Backend = strings.ToLower(cfg.Repo.Backend)
+
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/accounts/pkg/command/server.go b/accounts/pkg/command/server.go
index aa2c1b0c3..44feb3ffe 100644
--- a/accounts/pkg/command/server.go
+++ b/accounts/pkg/command/server.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package command
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/oklog/run"
 	"github.com/owncloud/ocis/accounts/pkg/config"
@@ -22,16 +21,10 @@ func Server(cfg *config.Config) *cli.Command {
 		Usage:       "Start ocis accounts service",
 		Description: "uses an LDAP server as the storage backend",
 		Before: func(ctx *cli.Context) error {
-			if cfg.HTTP.Root != "/" {
-				cfg.HTTP.Root = strings.TrimSuffix(cfg.HTTP.Root, "/")
-			}
-
 			if err := ParseConfig(ctx, cfg); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
 
-			cfg.Repo.Backend = strings.ToLower(cfg.Repo.Backend)
-
 			return nil
 		},
 		Action: func(c *cli.Context) error {