Confidential KPMG report for ABS 'excessively optimistic': analyst

A KPMG report that allegedly watered down criticism of a plan to merge two major Australian Bureau of Statistics projects was "excessively optimistic" and had "puzzling" omissions, according to an analyst.

The confidential KPMG report, obtained by The Australian Financial Review through a freedom of information request, had been commissioned by the ABS, at a cost of $600,000, to assess whether the agency's $257 million digital transformation program could be combined with its 2021 census project.