SCB, December 1985

Goods imports and goods exports were recalculated for 1983-1985 to record more accurately the actual movement of merchandise. Both imports and exports were shifted to tabulation on a “transactions” month basis, in which imports were recorded in the month in which they were released from Customs, and exports were recorded in the month of shipment out of the United States. In 1983-1985, both imports and exports had been tabulated on a “statistical” month basis--that is, the month in which administrative documents were processed by the Census Bureau. Tabulation on a “statistical” month basis distorted measures of economic activity in both the national and international accounts.