This year's Academy Awards has already gone down in infamy thanks to that Best Picture mix-up, and the accountancy firm responsible for the gaffe has now come out to apologise.

Last night's ceremony saw Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announce La La Land as the recipient of the top prize instead of the actual winner Moonlight, after the pair had somehow been given the wrong envelope.

All eyes turned to PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has overseen the Academy's ballet-counting process for the past 83 years. The company held its hands up and promised to launch a full investigation.

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'We sincerely apologise to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture,' PwC said in a statement.

'The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.

'We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation.'

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Moonlight director Barry Jenkins said after the awards show that the catastrophic mix-up actually made winning all the more special for him.

'I noticed the commotion and realised something strange had occurred — I was speechless. It made a special feeling even more special, but not in the way I expected,' he explained.

Traditionally, the company has printed two sets of winners' envelopes for each category, with one briefcase for either side of the stage.

And in a blog written for the Making of the Oscars series on Medium, PwC partners Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz were interviewed and explained what being an Oscar ballot leader involves.

When asked what their role is during the show, Cullinan said: 'The producers decide what the order of the awards will be. We each have a full set. I have all 24 envelopes in my briefcase; Martha has all 24 in hers.

'We stand on opposite sides of the stage, right off-screen, for the entire evening, and we each hand the respective envelope to the presenter. It doesn't sound very complicated, but you have to make sure you're giving the presenter the right envelope.'

But it appears that Beatty and Dunaway were given the envelope for Emma Stone's Best Actress win – or rather, the back-up envelope, since Stone revealed later that she still had hers from earlier in the evening.

Beatty explained of the moment: 'I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone – La La Land. That's why I looked at Faye, and at you. I wasn't trying to be funny.'

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Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 89th Academy Awards from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, and handled the whole thing like a pro, joking that he blamed Steve Harvey, who had his own awards show screw-up at the 2015 Miss Universe pageant.

Other less embarrassing highlights of the ceremony included a Best Actor win for Manchester by the Sea's Casey Affleck, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress wins for Moonlight's Mahershala Ali and Fences' Viola Davis, both of whom delivered powerful speeches.

The night was also full of political barbs aimed at US president Donald Trump – in the form of humour from host Jimmy Kimmel and in protest from Best Foreign Language Film winner Asghar Farhadi.

From: Digital Spy