diff --git a/go/parquet/file/file_writer.go b/go/parquet/file/file_writer.go
index 48eb8f44d167b..1d7f7840dac50 100644
--- a/go/parquet/file/file_writer.go
+++ b/go/parquet/file/file_writer.go
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ func (fw *Writer) AppendRowGroup() SerialRowGroupWriter {
 
 func (fw *Writer) appendRowGroup(buffered bool) *rowGroupWriter {
 	if fw.rowGroupWriter != nil {
+		fw.nrows += fw.rowGroupWriter.nrows
 		fw.rowGroupWriter.Close()
 	}
 	fw.rowGroups++
diff --git a/go/parquet/file/file_writer_test.go b/go/parquet/file/file_writer_test.go
index beceff9732584..f32e403a8d534 100644
--- a/go/parquet/file/file_writer_test.go
+++ b/go/parquet/file/file_writer_test.go
@@ -97,6 +97,8 @@ func (t *SerializeTestSuite) fileSerializeTest(codec compress.Compression, expec
 	writer.Close()
 
 	nrows := t.numRowGroups * t.rowsPerRG
+	t.EqualValues(nrows, writer.NumRows())
+
 	reader, err := file.NewParquetReader(bytes.NewReader(sink.Bytes()))
 	t.NoError(err)
 	t.Equal(t.numCols, reader.MetaData().Schema.NumColumns())