And the winner is ... For 82 years, the cast of Academy Award presenters who strolled on to the stage to bequeath perhaps the film industry's greatest honor rolled those words off their collective tongues.
This year, as the world watched on, Hollywood icon Warren Beatty stammered, stopped and passed the envelope to follow icon and presenter, Faye Dunaway, who read the words that will forever live in Oscar lore: "And the winner is, "La La Land."
Although it wasn't. It was "Moonlight."
And let's not kid ourselves – the story is still being discussed. The recap: tabulators from the Academy's long-time accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), handed the wrong envelopes to Beatty and Dunaway, who, not realizing it, read what was written. While the enormously embarrassing mishap eventually was corrected on stage in front of the world, the damage was done – and then some.
End of story? Not really. Just the other day, two PwC accountants were fired.
So, what happened? Why did it happen? Could it ever happen again? And, why didn't it ever happen before?
Nigel Currie, an independent London-based branding specialist with years of industry experience, told the Los Angeles Daily News that the mistake is “as bad a mess-up as you could imagine. They had a pretty simple job to do and messed it up spectacularly. They will be in deep crisis talks on how to deal with it.”
The question for you is: What can you do to make sure the confidentiality of your clients is never comprised? For one, you can keep up with Insightful Accountant, as Murph continues to emphasize the importance of understanding what cyber crime can do to you and your firm's reputation.
What are you doing? We'd love to hear your thoughts?
To read the latest Daily News story, click here.