PricewaterhouseCoopers to Safeguard Hollywood’s Biggest Secret for 72nd Year
10 February 2006 - Continuing its 72-year relationship with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), PricewaterhouseCoopers announced that Brad Oltmanns and Rick Rosas will lead the balloting process for the 78th Annual Academy Awards®, supported by Phil Stokes who will coordinate the balloting process for Academy members in Europe. Messrs Oltmanns and Rosas will be the only people who know who the Oscar winners are before their names are announced to the world during the Academy Awards telecast on ABC at 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST) on Sunday, 5 March 2006.
Sid Ganis, president of the Academy said:
“In a time when information can travel around the world in an instant, PricewaterhouseCoopers ensures the secrecy of the Academy Awards voting process by hand-counting each and every ballot. The Academy Awards balloting and voting process demands the highest level of trust, integrity and tradition - and that continues to be the foundation of our long-standing relationship with PricewaterhouseCoopers.”
Over the last seven decades, only 12 partners have had the privilege of counting ballots. To ensure secrecy, Oltmanns and Rosas lead a closed-mouthed group of accountants who work on the project in a secret location for several days. There are approximately 5,800 voting Academy members, of which 562 are located outside the USA. The UK, with 294 members, has the largest group of members outside the States followed by Canada and Australia. The balloting process takes approximately 1,700 “person-hours” each year to count and verify the ballots.
Brad Oltmanns commented:
“PricewaterhouseCoopers has created a process based on hand tabulations that has worked for more than seven decades. Just the way Rolls-Royce continues to build cars by hand, we continue to count by hand. In the 72 years of counting and validating the Academy Awards ballots, there has never been a security breach.”
Rick Rosas added:
"We are very proud of our long-time involvement with the Academy Awards, which has been an important part of our long association with Hollywood and the entertainment and media industry."
Oltmanns, who joins Rosas to lead the Academy balloting team for his second consecutive year, has served PricewaterhouseCoopers for 26 years, and is in charge of managing its entire 1,200-person staff in Los Angeles. Rosas has served the firm for 10 years and was appointed tax partner in 2001. This is his fifth year leading the Academy's balloting process.
Phil Stokes, who has been leading the UK and European balloting process for four years, commented:
“The geographic diversity within the Academy's membership contributes to the global appeal of the Academy Awards and we are proud to support the Academy and its activities outside the United States.”
How it Works
Via Los Angeles and London, PricewaterhouseCoopers mails to eligible Academy members the nomination ballots in December, final ballots in February, and receives all votes. The balloting partners then manually tabulate the responses according to Academy rules. As a precautionary measure, two complete sets of envelopes bearing recipients' names are prepared and brought by PricewaterhouseCoopers partners to the ceremony via separate, secret routes. As a second precautionary measure, the PricewaterhouseCoopers partners also memorise the names of the award winners.
Identities of Oscar recipients are kept confidential until they are announced during the live telecast. During the telecast, Oltmanns and Rosas remain backstage and hand the envelopes to award presenters immediately before they walk onstage.
END
Notes to the editor:
- Fun Facts from 72 Years of Oscar® Balloting
- 420,000: The approximate number of ballots counted by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 72 years on the job.
- 2,425: The number of winners' envelopes stuffed since the envelope system was introduced in 1941.
- 1,700: The approximate number of “person-hours” it takes the PricewaterhouseCoopers team every year to count and verify the ballots by hand.
- 72: The number of years PricewaterhouseCoopers has conducted the Oscar balloting.
- 52: The number of broadcasts PricewaterhouseCoopers' partners have appeared on since 1953 – the year the Oscars were first televised. The partners used to come on stage to hand-deliver the envelopes – hence, “and the envelope please” – but this is now done just offstage.
- 24: The number of awards categories tabulated at a secret location known only to the members of the small PricewaterhouseCoopers ballot team
- 7: The number of days it takes to count the ballots for nominations.
- 3: The number of days it takes to count the final ballots.
- PricewaterhouseCoopers' Entertainment and Media (E&M) practice is comprised of a network of more than 3,000 practitioners providing audit, advisory and tax services to help clients manage risk, maximize shareholder value and support M&A activities. It addresses business challenges for its clients, including developing strategies to leverage digital technology; marketplace positioning in industries characterized by consolidation and convergence; and identifying new sources of financing. Known as an industry thought leader, the E&M practice publishes the annual Global Entertainment and Media Outlook and other surveys and white papers highlighting current and future trends in the industry.
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