diff --git a/test/unit/account/test_auditor.py b/test/unit/account/test_auditor.py
index 37410af736..d01b2e3677 100644
--- a/test/unit/account/test_auditor.py
+++ b/test/unit/account/test_auditor.py
@@ -126,8 +126,9 @@ class TestAuditorRealBroker(unittest.TestCase):
         error_message = error_lines[0]
         self.assertIn(broker.db_file, error_message)
         self.assertIn(
-            'The total container_count for the account a (3) does not match '
-            'the sum of container_count across policies (2)', error_message)
+            'The total container_count for the account a (%d) does not match '
+            'the sum of container_count across policies (%d)'
+            % (num_containers, num_containers - 1), error_message)
         self.assertEqual(test_auditor.logger.get_increment_counts(),
                          {'failures': 1})