diff --git a/asset-transfer-basic/application-javascript/invoke.js b/asset-transfer-basic/application-javascript/invoke.js
index 8654c1d6..89c374cc 100644
--- a/asset-transfer-basic/application-javascript/invoke.js
+++ b/asset-transfer-basic/application-javascript/invoke.js
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ async function main() {
     try {
         // load the network configuration
         const ccpPath = path.resolve(__dirname, '..', '..', 'test-network', 'organizations', 'peerOrganizations', 'org1.example.com', 'connection-org1.json');
+        const fileExists = fs.existsSync(ccpPath);
+        if (!fileExists) {
+            throw new Error(`no such file or directory: ${ccpPath}`);
+        }
         let ccp = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(ccpPath, 'utf8'));
 
         // Create a new file system based wallet for managing identities.