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Academy Agrees to Keep Using Accounting Firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Despite Best Picture Mix-up

Oops! Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

After a six-hour meeting, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided to continue their decades-long relationship with the accounting firm responsible for the 2017 ceremony’s now-infamous Best Picture mix-up. Though accountants Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz are still barred from working all future Oscar ceremonies, PricewaterhouseCoopers will continue to be on retainer to tabulate votes. During the first in-person meeting of the Academy’s Board of Governors since the snafu, PwC’s U.S. chairman Tim Ryan apologized for the mishandling, according to The Hollywood Reporter. From now on, the Academy has instituted new rules for accountants handling Oscar night to curb future embarrassment: There will be a third balloting leader stationed in the control room to quickly correct mistakes, and all accountants will have to hand over their phones before going backstage.

Oscars Won’t Sever Ties With PwC Despite Best Picture Mix-up