James M. Fadool, an associate professor of biology at Florida State University, got a federal grant of more than $300,000 to study eye defects using zebra-fish. Some of that money went to pay another researcher, $1,536 biweekly, to assist with the research and manage the lab where the fish were kept. But an audit by the Office of Inspector General in the Department of Health and Human Services determined that $922 of that amount, or 60 percent, could not be charged to the grant because the employee also performed administrative duties not related to the research. That was just one of nearly 100 expenditures that the inspector general ruled were misspent at Florida State. Out of $10.6-million in federal research grants, auditors disallowed nearly $3-million, which the federal government is demanding that the university repay. Florida State, which is still disputing the findings, is far from the only university to feel the sting of a federal audit in recent years. The flood of research money from the 2009 federal stimulus act and the growing federal deficit have increased demands for accountability among recipients of taxpayer dollars. The author discusses the increased scrutiny from federal auditors that draws complaints about the costs of complying with regulations.