diff --git a/kmymoney/icons/CMakeLists.txt b/kmymoney/icons/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/kmymoney/icons/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/kmymoney/icons/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 include(ECMInstallIcons)
 
-add_definitions(-DKMYMONEY_ICON_DIR="${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${DATA_INSTALL_DIR}/kmymoney/icons")
-
 file(GLOB_RECURSE KMYMONEY_HICOLOR_ICONS "hicolor/*")
 ecm_install_icons(
   ICONS ${KMYMONEY_HICOLOR_ICONS}
diff --git a/kmymoney/icons/icons.cpp b/kmymoney/icons/icons.cpp
--- a/kmymoney/icons/icons.cpp
+++ b/kmymoney/icons/icons.cpp
@@ -396,15 +396,6 @@
 
   KMM_ICONS_EXPORT QIcon get(Icon icon)
   {
-#ifdef KMYMONEY_ICON_DIR
-    static bool first_time = true;
-    if (first_time) {
-      first_time = false;
-      QStringList paths = QIcon::themeSearchPaths();
-      paths.append(QStringLiteral(KMYMONEY_ICON_DIR));
-      QIcon::setThemeSearchPaths(paths);
-    }
-#endif
     if (sComposedIcons.contains(icon))
       return overlayIcon(sComposedIcons[icon]);
 
diff --git a/kmymoney/kmymoney.cpp b/kmymoney/kmymoney.cpp
--- a/kmymoney/kmymoney.cpp
+++ b/kmymoney/kmymoney.cpp
@@ -1163,6 +1163,23 @@
   layout->setSpacing(6);
 
   {
+    // find where our custom icons were installed based on an custom icon that we know should exist after installation
+    const auto customIconRelativePath = QString(QStringLiteral("icons/hicolor/16x16/actions/account-add.png"));
+    auto customIconAbsolutePath = QStandardPaths::locate(QStandardPaths::AppDataLocation, customIconRelativePath);
+
+    // add our custom icons path to icons search path
+    if (!customIconAbsolutePath.isEmpty()) {
+      customIconAbsolutePath.chop(customIconRelativePath.length());
+      customIconAbsolutePath.append(QLatin1String("icons"));
+      auto paths = QIcon::themeSearchPaths();
+      paths.append(customIconAbsolutePath);
+      QIcon::setThemeSearchPaths(paths);
+    } else {
+      qWarning("Custom icons were not found in any of the following QStandardPaths::AppDataLocation:");
+      for (const auto &standardPath : QStandardPaths::standardLocations(QStandardPaths::AppDataLocation))
+          qWarning() << standardPath;
+    }
+
     #if defined(Q_OS_WIN) || defined(Q_OS_MACOS)
     QString themeName = QLatin1Literal("system");                       // using QIcon::setThemeName on Craft build system causes icons to disappear
     #else