diff --git a/cmd/sriov-network-operator-config-cleanup/cleanup.go b/cmd/sriov-network-operator-config-cleanup/cleanup.go
index c2a5e0c05..ae13f93d6 100644
--- a/cmd/sriov-network-operator-config-cleanup/cleanup.go
+++ b/cmd/sriov-network-operator-config-cleanup/cleanup.go
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ func runCleanupCmd(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	watcher, err := sriovcs.SriovOperatorConfigs(namespace).Watch(ctx, metav1.ListOptions{Watch: true})
 	defer watcher.Stop()
 	if err != nil {
+		if errors.IsNotFound(err) {
+			return nil
+		}
 		setupLog.Error(err, "failed creating 'default' SriovOperatorConfig object watcher")
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/sriov-network-operator-config-cleanup/cleanup_test.go b/cmd/sriov-network-operator-config-cleanup/cleanup_test.go
index 95c87fda2..7be1e4a5b 100644
--- a/cmd/sriov-network-operator-config-cleanup/cleanup_test.go
+++ b/cmd/sriov-network-operator-config-cleanup/cleanup_test.go
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ var (
 )
 
 var _ = Describe("cleanup", Ordered, func() {
-
 	BeforeAll(func() {
 		By("Create SriovOperatorConfig controller k8s objs")
 		config := getDefaultSriovOperatorConfig()
@@ -161,7 +160,6 @@ func newConfigController() *configController {
 }
 
 func (c *configController) start() {
-
 	c.wg.Add(1)
 	go func() {
 		defer c.wg.Done()
diff --git a/controllers/sriovoperatorconfig_controller.go b/controllers/sriovoperatorconfig_controller.go
index 2c8663911..437d7b9d9 100644
--- a/controllers/sriovoperatorconfig_controller.go
+++ b/controllers/sriovoperatorconfig_controller.go
@@ -459,12 +459,9 @@ func (r *SriovOperatorConfigReconciler) handleSriovOperatorConfigDeletion(ctx co
 			return reconcile.Result{}, err
 		}
 		// remove our finalizer from the list and update it.
-		var found bool
-		defaultConfig.ObjectMeta.Finalizers, found = sriovnetworkv1.RemoveString(sriovnetworkv1.OPERATORCONFIGFINALIZERNAME, defaultConfig.ObjectMeta.Finalizers)
-		if found {
-			if err := r.Update(ctx, defaultConfig); err != nil {
-				return reconcile.Result{}, err
-			}
+		defaultConfig.ObjectMeta.Finalizers, _ = sriovnetworkv1.RemoveString(sriovnetworkv1.OPERATORCONFIGFINALIZERNAME, defaultConfig.ObjectMeta.Finalizers)
+		if err := r.Update(ctx, defaultConfig); err != nil {
+			return reconcile.Result{}, err
 		}
 	}