Rick Rosas and Brad Oltmanns, also known as Men with the Briefcases on the Red Carpet, have been in charge of handling the final tallies and guarding the winners.
This article shares some thoughts on this.
The Academy takes the process of tabulating winners and then keeping their identities a secret very seriously. They entrust it to the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Since 2005, the same two men have been in charge of handling the final tallies and guarding the winners’ names: Rick Rosas and Brad Oltmanns. Also known as the “men with the briefcases on the red carpet,” their responsibilities are quite real and not mere ceremony.
The designated two people in charge then assemble the final count. Winners are handwritten on cards in a secret location and then placed in the sealed Oscars envelopes, which are then put under tight lock and key until the day of the ceremony. As awards presenters enter the stage, they receive the sealed envelopes and legitimately discover the winner’s identity for the first time as they tear open the seal. As such, their surprises are genuine, as are the actual winners they announce.