Michelle Pautz of the political science department presented a paper, “The Perils of 21st Century Reform: Sarbanes-Oxley and the Relentless Pursuit of Accountability,” at the 2007 Southeastern Conference for Public Administration last week in Nashville, Tennessee. The paper, co-authored with C. Patrick Washington of Virginia Tech, examines the 2001 Sarbanes-Oxley Act that was passed in the wake of corporate scandal and its attempts to promote accountability. Pautz and Washington conclude that despite promises of accountability, Sarbanes-Oxley actually hinders accountability.