The Most Coveted Job in Accounting: Oscar Ballot Counter

To those outside the accounting industry, the mere mention of the word accounting conjures images of dorky dudes wearing second-rate suits and fat ties playing with calculators in windowless rooms, marveling at the sharpness of their No. 2 pencils in between making tiny little marks in red-lined ledger books. To those in the know, however, accounting means black ties, red carpets, Meryl Streep and Oscar parties.

Yes, it’s time for PricewaterhouseCoopers to start counting ballots again. And today the New York Times tells you just how difficult the job of tallying Academy Award ballots can be.

So before you go sending your resume to PwC, saying you can count ballots like nobody's business, consider that if you’re one of the two PwC partners entrusted with the golden envelopes, you're 1) not able to hit the head once during the entire three-hour Oscar ceremony, 2) sure to be the butt of numerous jokes reeled off by world-class comedians and 3) on particularly tough nights backstage, you might have to put down your pointy pencil, put up your manicured dukes, and attempt to fight off the likes of Jumping Jack Black.