diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/ipc/reader.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/ipc/reader.cc
index 877ab69a80503..d35236cc23835 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/ipc/reader.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/ipc/reader.cc
@@ -655,6 +655,8 @@ Status ReadDictionary(const Buffer& metadata, DictionaryMemo* dictionary_memo,
   // The dictionary is embedded in a record batch with a single column
   auto batch_meta = dictionary_batch->data();
 
+  CHECK_FLATBUFFERS_NOT_NULL(batch_meta, "DictionaryBatch.data");
+
   Compression::type compression;
   RETURN_NOT_OK(GetCompression(batch_meta, &compression));
   if (compression == Compression::UNCOMPRESSED &&
@@ -673,8 +675,6 @@ Status ReadDictionary(const Buffer& metadata, DictionaryMemo* dictionary_memo,
 
   auto value_field = ::arrow::field("dummy", value_type);
 
-  CHECK_FLATBUFFERS_NOT_NULL(batch_meta, "DictionaryBatch.data");
-
   std::shared_ptr<RecordBatch> batch;
   ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(
       batch, LoadRecordBatch(batch_meta, ::arrow::schema({value_field}),