diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
index d34e22dce2c8..4bb48c6b6698 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
@@ -931,15 +931,15 @@ static int __run_perf_stat(int argc, const char **argv, int run_idx)
 	/*
 	 * Enable counters and exec the command:
 	 */
-	t0 = rdclock();
-	clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &ref_time);
-
 	if (forks) {
 		evlist__start_workload(evsel_list);
 		err = enable_counters();
 		if (err)
 			return -1;
 
+		t0 = rdclock();
+		clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &ref_time);
+
 		if (interval || timeout || evlist__ctlfd_initialized(evsel_list))
 			status = dispatch_events(forks, timeout, interval, &times);
 		if (child_pid != -1) {
@@ -960,6 +960,10 @@ static int __run_perf_stat(int argc, const char **argv, int run_idx)
 		err = enable_counters();
 		if (err)
 			return -1;
+
+		t0 = rdclock();
+		clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &ref_time);
+
 		status = dispatch_events(forks, timeout, interval, &times);
 	}