Alan Burton, Great Bend, a 2005 Fort Hays State University graduate with a B.B.A. in accounting, is one of 39 winners nationwide - out of a pool of 92,000 - of the 2012 Elijah Watt Sells Award of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Burton is a Certified Public Accountant with Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, Chartered, Great Bend.

Burton is the second FHSU graduate to be named a Sells Award winner in the last three years. Seth Albin was one of nine winners, out of more than 90,000, for the 2010 testing cycle. Burton earned the award by meeting two difficult objectives: He obtained a cumulative average score above 95.50 across all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination, and he passed all four sections of the examination on his first attempt. "I have to give credit to my educators throughout the years, there at Fort Hays State and back to high school, and to my co-workers here at Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball," said Burton

FHSU was one of only 13 universities nationally that had two or more Sells Awards winners over the past three years.