diff --git a/pkg/controller/serviceaccount/BUILD b/pkg/controller/serviceaccount/BUILD
index 4267dced59a..e4135d7e87f 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/serviceaccount/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/controller/serviceaccount/BUILD
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ go_library(
         "//pkg/util/metrics:go_default_library",
         "//vendor:github.com/golang/glog",
         "//vendor:k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors",
-        "//vendor:k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta",
         "//vendor:k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1",
         "//vendor:k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/fields",
         "//vendor:k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime",
diff --git a/pkg/controller/serviceaccount/serviceaccounts_controller.go b/pkg/controller/serviceaccount/serviceaccounts_controller.go
index ccb7cf9c1dc..9ffaab487c9 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/serviceaccount/serviceaccounts_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/serviceaccount/serviceaccounts_controller.go
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 	apierrs "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
-	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	utilerrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/errors"
 	utilruntime "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/runtime"
@@ -36,15 +35,6 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/metrics"
 )
 
-// nameIndexFunc is an index function that indexes based on an object's name
-func nameIndexFunc(obj interface{}) ([]string, error) {
-	meta, err := meta.Accessor(obj)
-	if err != nil {
-		return []string{""}, fmt.Errorf("object has no meta: %v", err)
-	}
-	return []string{meta.GetName()}, nil
-}
-
 // ServiceAccountsControllerOptions contains options for running a ServiceAccountsController
 type ServiceAccountsControllerOptions struct {
 	// ServiceAccounts is the list of service accounts to ensure exist in every namespace