diff --git a/pkg/testutils/golden/compare.go b/pkg/testutils/golden/compare.go
index 3d71f5ad6c..9efdbcede4 100644
--- a/pkg/testutils/golden/compare.go
+++ b/pkg/testutils/golden/compare.go
@@ -33,6 +33,13 @@ import (
 func AssertMatchesFile(t *testing.T, actual string, p string) {
 	actual = strings.TrimSpace(actual)
 
+	abs, err := filepath.Abs(p)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("unable to get absolute path for %q: %v", p, err)
+	} else {
+		p = abs
+	}
+
 	expectedBytes, err := ioutil.ReadFile(p)
 	if err != nil {
 		if !os.IsNotExist(err) || os.Getenv("HACK_UPDATE_EXPECTED_IN_PLACE") == "" {
@@ -69,13 +76,6 @@ func AssertMatchesFile(t *testing.T, actual string, p string) {
 	diffString := diff.FormatDiff(expected, actual)
 	t.Logf("diff:\n%s\n", diffString)
 
-	abs, err := filepath.Abs(p)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Errorf("unable to get absolute path for %q: %v", p, err)
-	} else {
-		p = abs
-	}
-
 	t.Logf("to update golden output automatically, run hack/update-expected.sh")
 
 	t.Errorf("output did not match expected for %q", p)