Susan Scholz, a professor in the KU School of Business, will study how and why publicly traded companies restated their earnings.In the past several years, a number of companies including Apple Computers, Research in Motion and UnitedHealth have had to restate earning because of irregular option grants, but restatements have come for a number of other reasons.It’s often attributed to more stringent accounting requirements instituted by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. But the Treasury Department is concerned that the increasing number of restatements, particularly those that may be needless, is hurting investor confidence.Scholz will try and determine whether that is the case, and if the restatements have been necessary.