diff --git a/m4/xerces_icu_prefix.m4 b/m4/xerces_icu_prefix.m4
index c64b18742a3ab07952f7f67ef76ebfa2b24acbe9..7819d395d7e75d494b7f76422a2a19f51be54f67 100644
--- a/m4/xerces_icu_prefix.m4
+++ b/m4/xerces_icu_prefix.m4
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ AC_DEFUN([XERCES_ICU_PREFIX],
 		xerces_cv_icu_prefix=
 		if test x"$with_icu" != x"no"; then
 			search_list="$with_icu /usr/local /usr"
-			for i in $search_list; do
-				if test -r "$i/include/unicode/ucnv.h"; then
+			for i in $search_list; do			
+				if test -x $i/bin/genrb -a -r $i/include/unicode/ucnv.h; then
 					xerces_cv_icu_prefix=$i
 					break
 				fi