diff --git a/misc/cronjobs/fines.pl b/misc/cronjobs/fines.pl
index 42498f329d..65bfb7ab58 100755
--- a/misc/cronjobs/fines.pl
+++ b/misc/cronjobs/fines.pl
@@ -105,7 +105,9 @@ if($output_dir){
     $fldir = $output_dir if( -d $output_dir );
 } else {
     $fldir = $ENV{TMPDIR} || "/tmp";
-    warn "Could not write to $output_dir ... does not exist!";
+}
+if (!-d $fldir) {
+    warn "Could not write to $fldir ... does not exist!";
 }
 $filename = $dbname;
 $filename =~ s/\W//;