diff --git a/authority/admin.py b/authority/admin.py
index 2b30445..08eb659 100644
--- a/authority/admin.py
+++ b/authority/admin.py
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
-from django import forms, template
+from django import forms
 from django.http import HttpResponseRedirect
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext, ungettext, ugettext_lazy as _
 from django.shortcuts import render_to_response
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 from django.forms.formsets import all_valid
 from django.contrib import admin
-from django.contrib.admin import helpers
+from django.contrib.admin import actions, helpers
 from django.contrib.contenttypes.admin import GenericTabularInline
 from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
 from django.core.exceptions import PermissionDenied
@@ -15,11 +15,6 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     from django.utils.encoding import force_unicode as force_text
 
-try:
-    from django.contrib.admin import actions
-except ImportError:
-    actions = False
-
 from authority.models import Permission
 from authority.widgets import GenericForeignKeyRawIdWidget
 from authority.utils import get_choices_for
diff --git a/authority/compat.py b/authority/compat.py
deleted file mode 100644
index a54d6f1..0000000
--- a/authority/compat.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-from django.conf import settings
-
-
-# Django 1.5 compatibility utilities, providing support for custom User models.
-# Since get_user_model() causes a circular import if called when app models are
-# being loaded, the user_model_label should be used when possible, with calls
-# to get_user_model deferred to execution time
-user_model_label = getattr(settings, "AUTH_USER_MODEL", "auth.User")
-
-try:
-    from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
-except ImportError:
-    from django.contrib.auth.models import User
-
-    def get_user_model():
-        return User
diff --git a/authority/forms.py b/authority/forms.py
index 60f9292..78d90a9 100644
--- a/authority/forms.py
+++ b/authority/forms.py
@@ -1,14 +1,13 @@
 from django import forms
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
-from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
+from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 
 from authority import permissions
 from authority.utils import get_choices_for
 from authority.models import Permission
-from authority.compat import get_user_model
-
 
 User = get_user_model()
 
diff --git a/authority/models.py b/authority/models.py
index eb76807..61674a5 100644
--- a/authority/models.py
+++ b/authority/models.py
@@ -1,13 +1,15 @@
 from datetime import datetime
+from django.conf import settings
 from django.db import models
 from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
 from django.contrib.contenttypes.fields import GenericForeignKey
 from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 
-from authority.compat import user_model_label
 from authority.managers import PermissionManager
 
+USER_MODEL = getattr(settings, "AUTH_USER_MODEL", "auth.User")
+
 
 class Permission(models.Model):
     """
@@ -24,7 +26,7 @@ class Permission(models.Model):
     content_object = GenericForeignKey("content_type", "object_id")
 
     user = models.ForeignKey(
-        user_model_label,
+        USER_MODEL,
         null=True,
         blank=True,
         related_name="granted_permissions",
@@ -32,7 +34,7 @@ class Permission(models.Model):
     )
     group = models.ForeignKey(Group, null=True, blank=True, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
     creator = models.ForeignKey(
-        user_model_label,
+        USER_MODEL,
         null=True,
         blank=True,
         related_name="created_permissions",
diff --git a/authority/templatetags/permissions.py b/authority/templatetags/permissions.py
index 26976d5..27964bd 100644
--- a/authority/templatetags/permissions.py
+++ b/authority/templatetags/permissions.py
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 from django import template
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.urls import reverse
 from django.contrib.auth.models import AnonymousUser
 
 from authority.utils import get_check
 from authority import permissions
-from authority.compat import get_user_model
 from authority.models import Permission
 from authority.forms import UserPermissionForm