diff --git a/lib/_stream_transform.js b/lib/_stream_transform.js
index 8a00d343b60..958bfa11486 100644
--- a/lib/_stream_transform.js
+++ b/lib/_stream_transform.js
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ function Transform(options) {
   // sync guard flag.
   this._readableState.sync = false;
 
-  this.once('finish', function() {
+  this.once('prefinish', function() {
     if ('function' === typeof this._flush)
       this._flush(function(er) {
         done(stream, er);
diff --git a/lib/_stream_writable.js b/lib/_stream_writable.js
index 9042df721be..f0034e3ba58 100644
--- a/lib/_stream_writable.js
+++ b/lib/_stream_writable.js
@@ -102,6 +102,14 @@ function WritableState(options, stream) {
   this.writelen = 0;
 
   this.buffer = [];
+
+  // number of pending user-supplied write callbacks
+  // this must be 0 before 'finish' can be emitted
+  this.pendingcb = 0;
+
+  // emit prefinish if the only thing we're waiting for is _write cbs
+  // This is relevant for synchronous Transform streams
+  this.prefinished = false;
 }
 
 function Writable(options) {
@@ -171,8 +179,10 @@ Writable.prototype.write = function(chunk, encoding, cb) {
 
   if (state.ended)
     writeAfterEnd(this, state, cb);
-  else if (validChunk(this, state, chunk, cb))
+  else if (validChunk(this, state, chunk, cb)) {
+    state.pendingcb++;
     ret = writeOrBuffer(this, state, chunk, encoding, cb);
+  }
 
   return ret;
 };
@@ -241,10 +251,13 @@ function doWrite(stream, state, writev, len, chunk, encoding, cb) {
 function onwriteError(stream, state, sync, er, cb) {
   if (sync)
     process.nextTick(function() {
+      state.pendingcb--;
       cb(er);
     });
-  else
+  else {
+    state.pendingcb--;
     cb(er);
+  }
 
   stream.emit('error', er);
 }
@@ -289,9 +302,9 @@ function onwrite(stream, er) {
 function afterWrite(stream, state, finished, cb) {
   if (!finished)
     onwriteDrain(stream, state);
+  state.pendingcb--;
   cb();
-  if (finished)
-    finishMaybe(stream, state);
+  finishMaybe(stream, state);
 }
 
 // Must force callback to be called on nextTick, so that we don't
@@ -315,9 +328,14 @@ function clearBuffer(stream, state) {
     for (var c = 0; c < state.buffer.length; c++)
       cbs.push(state.buffer[c].callback);
 
+    // count the one we are adding, as well.
+    // TODO(isaacs) clean this up
+    state.pendingcb++;
     doWrite(stream, state, true, state.length, state.buffer, '', function(err) {
-      for (var i = 0; i < cbs.length; i++)
+      for (var i = 0; i < cbs.length; i++) {
+        state.pendingcb--;
         cbs[i](err);
+      }
     });
 
     // Clear buffer
@@ -390,11 +408,22 @@ function needFinish(stream, state) {
           !state.writing);
 }
 
+function prefinish(stream, state) {
+  if (!state.prefinished) {
+    state.prefinished = true;
+    stream.emit('prefinish');
+  }
+}
+
 function finishMaybe(stream, state) {
   var need = needFinish(stream, state);
   if (need) {
-    state.finished = true;
-    stream.emit('finish');
+    if (state.pendingcb === 0) {
+      prefinish(stream, state);
+      state.finished = true;
+      stream.emit('finish');
+    } else
+      prefinish(stream, state);
   }
   return need;
 }
diff --git a/test/simple/test-stream2-writable.js b/test/simple/test-stream2-writable.js
index e0f384cb2ad..704100c0da4 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-stream2-writable.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-stream2-writable.js
@@ -375,3 +375,19 @@ test('finish does not come before write cb', function(t) {
   w.write(Buffer(0));
   w.end();
 });
+
+test('finish does not come before sync _write cb', function(t) {
+  var w = new W();
+  var writeCb = false;
+  w._write = function(chunk, e, cb) {
+    cb();
+  };
+  w.on('finish', function() {
+    assert(writeCb);
+    t.end();
+  });
+  w.write(Buffer(0), function(er) {
+    writeCb = true;
+  });
+  w.end();
+});