**GAO-06-607**                      Published: May 31, 2006. Publicly Released: Jun 05, 2006.                  

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## Highlights

In 2003, the Bureau of the Census (Bureau) changed the day and location of the release of its Income and Poverty Estimates. Some data users believed the change was an effort to suppress unfavorable news and questioned the Bureau's data dissemination practices. GAO was asked to assess whether (1) the Bureau adhered to its dissemination practices for the 2003 and later releases, and (2) the Bureau and 13 other federal statistical agencies follow data release practices recommended by the National Research Council (NRC). GAO reviewed the Bureau's dissemination process for the 2003 thru 2005 Income and Poverty Estimates.

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## Topics

Information Management

CensusData integrityGovernment information disseminationIncome statisticsInternal controlsPolicy evaluationStatistical dataPolicies and proceduresTransparencyData quality