diff --git a/chgrp.c b/chgrp.c
index b052bba..78ee68b 100644
--- a/chgrp.c
+++ b/chgrp.c
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@
 #include "util.h"
 
 static int gid;
-static int failures = 0;
-static int rflag = 0;
+static int status;
+static int rflag;
 static struct stat st;
 
 static void
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ chgrp(const char *path)
 {
 	if (chown(path, st.st_uid, gid) < 0) {
 		weprintf("chown %s:", path);
-		failures++;
+		status = 1;
 	}
 	if (rflag)
 		recurse(path, chgrp);
@@ -59,11 +59,10 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	while (*++argv) {
 		if (stat(*argv, &st) < 0) {
 			weprintf("stat %s:", *argv);
-			failures++;
+			status = 1;
 			continue;
 		}
 		chgrp(*argv);
 	}
-
-	return failures;
+	return status;
 }