diff --git a/go/parquet/file/file_writer_test.go b/go/parquet/file/file_writer_test.go
index 8ff202b947bf0..bba0d2be28d98 100644
--- a/go/parquet/file/file_writer_test.go
+++ b/go/parquet/file/file_writer_test.go
@@ -139,7 +139,9 @@ func (t *SerializeTestSuite) unequalNumRows(maxRows int64, rowsPerCol []int64) {
 		t.WriteBatchSubset(int(rowsPerCol[col]), 0, cw, t.DefLevels[:rowsPerCol[col]], nil)
 		cw.Close()
 	}
-	t.Error(rgw.Close())
+	err := rgw.Close()
+	t.Error(err)
+	t.ErrorContains(err, "row mismatch for unbuffered row group")
 }
 
 func (t *SerializeTestSuite) unequalNumRowsBuffered(maxRows int64, rowsPerCol []int64) {
@@ -154,7 +156,9 @@ func (t *SerializeTestSuite) unequalNumRowsBuffered(maxRows int64, rowsPerCol []
 		t.WriteBatchSubset(int(rowsPerCol[col]), 0, cw, t.DefLevels[:rowsPerCol[col]], nil)
 		cw.Close()
 	}
-	t.Error(rgw.Close())
+	err := rgw.Close()
+	t.Error(err)
+	t.ErrorContains(err, "row mismatch for buffered row group")
 }
 
 func (t *SerializeTestSuite) TestZeroRows() {
diff --git a/go/parquet/file/row_group_writer.go b/go/parquet/file/row_group_writer.go
index 8fbb04ad7afb6..410f48b477a7c 100644
--- a/go/parquet/file/row_group_writer.go
+++ b/go/parquet/file/row_group_writer.go
@@ -110,13 +110,13 @@ func (rg *rowGroupWriter) checkRowsWritten() error {
 		if rg.nrows == 0 {
 			rg.nrows = current
 		} else if rg.nrows != current {
-			return xerrors.New("row mismatch")
+			return xerrors.Errorf("row mismatch for unbuffered row group: %d, count expected: %d, actual: %d", rg.ordinal, current, rg.nrows)
 		}
 	} else if rg.buffered {
 		current := rg.columnWriters[0].RowsWritten()
-		for _, wr := range rg.columnWriters[1:] {
+		for i, wr := range rg.columnWriters[1:] {
 			if current != wr.RowsWritten() {
-				return xerrors.New("row mismatch error")
+				return xerrors.Errorf("row mismatch for buffered row group: %d, column: %d, count expected: %d, actual: %d", rg.ordinal, i+1, current, wr.RowsWritten())
 			}
 		}
 		rg.nrows = current
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ func (rg *rowGroupWriter) Column(i int) (ColumnChunkWriter, error) {
 	if i >= 0 && i < len(rg.columnWriters) {
 		return rg.columnWriters[i], nil
 	}
-	return nil, xerrors.New("invalid column number requested")
+	return nil, xerrors.Errorf("invalid column number requested: %d", i)
 }
 
 func (rg *rowGroupWriter) CurrentColumn() int { return rg.metadata.CurrentColumn() }