The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science has created new procedures to avoid situations like the finale of this year’s Oscars ceremony.
At a board meeting on Tuesday, the Academy’s board of governors decided not to fire PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which has taken responsibility for the envelope mix-up that led to the wrong film being announced as Best Picture earlier this year.
La La Land was wrongly announced as the winner instead of Moonlight, but the error was later corrected.
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In the past, two PwC accountants have been responsible for calculating the votes and handing out the envelopes.
Starting next year, PwC will have a third accountant in the control room and that accountant will know the winners in advance. They will be able to alert the show’s director in case of any error.
Also beginning next year, the Academy will ban all electronic devices backstage.
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The Academy released a statement on Wednesday revealing that despite the incident, they will retain their partnership with PwC, which handles the counting of the votes.
Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs explained why they decided to move forward with the accounting firm.
“Heading into our 84th year working with PwC, a partnership that is important to the Academy, we’ve been unsparing in our assessment that the mistake made by representatives of the firm was unacceptable,” Isaacs revealed.
She continued: “Throughout the last month, the Academy team has worked hand-in-hand with PwC to review our wide-ranging relationship — everything from Oscars voting, auditing, and taxes — during which we asked them to lay out for us a path and a process towards ensuring that everything will continue to the high standards the Academy expects and you deserve.”
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Boone Isaacs went on to affirm that PwC has taken full responsibility for the mistake and after “thorough review” the board has decided to continue the partnership with the accountant firm.
She also called the 89th Academy Awards “the most extraordinary and memorable Oscars ceremony in decades.”
The Academy has already announced that the two PwC accountants, Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz, who were backstage this year will not return.
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