diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriter.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriter.java
index 74fabc421..19175903c 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriter.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriter.java
@@ -16,8 +16,19 @@
 
 package org.springframework.batch.item.file;
 
+import java.io.BufferedWriter;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.Writer;
+import java.nio.channels.Channels;
+import java.nio.channels.FileChannel;
+import java.nio.charset.UnsupportedCharsetException;
+import java.util.List;
+
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+
 import org.springframework.batch.item.ExecutionContext;
 import org.springframework.batch.item.ItemStream;
 import org.springframework.batch.item.ItemStreamException;
@@ -32,16 +43,6 @@ import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.util.ClassUtils;
 
-import java.io.BufferedWriter;
-import java.io.File;
-import java.io.FileOutputStream;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.Writer;
-import java.nio.channels.Channels;
-import java.nio.channels.FileChannel;
-import java.nio.charset.UnsupportedCharsetException;
-import java.util.List;
-
 /**
  * This class is an item writer that writes data to a file or stream. The writer
  * also provides restart. The location of the output file is defined by a
@@ -186,7 +187,6 @@ InitializingBean {
 	 */
 	public void setAppendAllowed(boolean append) {
 		this.append = append;
-		this.shouldDeleteIfExists = false;
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriterTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriterTests.java
index 99f719428..66101326c 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriterTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriterTests.java
@@ -16,9 +16,22 @@
 
 package org.springframework.batch.item.file;
 
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.io.Writer;
+import java.nio.charset.UnsupportedCharsetException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
+
 import org.springframework.batch.item.ExecutionContext;
 import org.springframework.batch.item.ItemStreamException;
 import org.springframework.batch.item.UnexpectedInputException;
@@ -33,18 +46,6 @@ import org.springframework.transaction.support.TransactionCallback;
 import org.springframework.transaction.support.TransactionTemplate;
 import org.springframework.util.ClassUtils;
 
-import java.io.BufferedReader;
-import java.io.File;
-import java.io.FileInputStream;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.InputStreamReader;
-import java.io.Writer;
-import java.nio.charset.UnsupportedCharsetException;
-import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Arrays;
-import java.util.Collections;
-import java.util.List;
-
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
@@ -176,6 +177,8 @@ public class FlatFileItemWriterTests {
 
 	@Test
 	public void testWriteWithAppendRestartOnSecondChunk() throws Exception {
+		// This should be overridden via the writer#setAppendAllowed(true)
+		writer.setShouldDeleteIfExists(true);
 		writer.setAppendAllowed(true);
 		writer.open(executionContext);
 		writer.write(Collections.singletonList("test1"));