in the now - deleted tweet , cullinan – one of two accountants from pricewaterhousecoopers who handled the oscars balloting – shared a photo of the best actress winner smiling while holding her award backstage .
the time stamp shows it was posted at 9:05 p.m. , only minutes before the best picture blunder occurred .
pricewaterhousecoopers , the auditing firm that handles the oscars votes , said that they did n’t act “ quickly enough ” to fix the epic best picture flub at the 89th annual academy awards on sunday , february 26 .
according to pwc , their partner brian cullinan accidentally handed presenters warren beatty and faye dunaway the envelope containing the winner of best actress , which was one of two accounting honchos in charge of handing out the winners ’ envelopes at the oscars sunday night jinxed himself in an interview earlier this month .
brian cullinan , one of the only two and three times to make sure , and they have absolute trust in us and what we do .
an academy spokeswoman declined to discuss the next steps .
“ it does n’t sound very complicated , but you have to make sure you give the presenter the right envelope , ” brian cullinan , a partner at pricewaterhousecoopers , told the website medium in a story published feb. 10 .
but people briefed on the matter dropped some hints .
“ we check things dozens of times , recounts and double - checks , ” cullinan said .