15th July 2024
Written by Holly Richardson
This July, Lucy Gibbons celebrates 10 years of working in our finance team at Robinsons. We interviewed Lucy to find out more about her role in the business and what keeps her motivated.
What brought you to Robinsons?
I was living in Preston at the time and wanted to move to Manchester, when the job at Robinsons came up I was delighted. I knew of Robinsons and had been in a few of our pubs so I applied straight away.
I loved the Black Horse in Preston and growing up so close to the Lake District, I’d spent many a holiday in the Lakes and visited plenty of Robinsons pubs over the years. I found out a few days later that I’d got the job so I went for a celebratory drink at the Black Horse with my friends and family!
What has kept you here for 10 years?
There’s so much going on, you’d never get bored. Robinsons is such a varied business, and the variety of my day-to-day job keeps me engaged and I really enjoy it. I think that working for a family business is also really special, I feel valued and have exposure to an array of people and experiences that you wouldn’t get if you worked for a huge corporate business.
So you said every day is different, so what does an average day look like?
Well, this is tricky because of the variety of what we do. As a manager, the key thing that I’m regularly doing is catching up with my team and keeping up to date with what they are all up to. Beyond that, I’m getting involved in the forecast, overseeing and helping with the budget, reporting to the Board, meeting with the senior finance team, overseeing the development and roll out of new reports and working on various projects.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
We’ve got a great team here and I really enjoy working with them all. I’m lucky to be in a job that I enjoy so much. As I mentioned already the variety and the family aspect of the business really make it a wonderful place to work.
We do all things in our jobs which people might not know. What happens in your team which people might not know about?
The Finance team know everything! I think it’s fair to say that in a finance function we get involved in all aspects of the business. We’re a complex business, and it’s quite normal that most people will only know about the area that they work in. But everything involves money, and when you’re responsible for reporting and budgeting for the entire business you have to get to know everybody and every aspect of the business. We’re not just busy budgeting and forecasting, we’re also constantly monitoring our investment performance to ensure we are spending money on the right projects. Cashflow forecasting is also a key part of what the FP&A team does each week, we’ve got to get the forecast right to ensure there’s the money in the bank to pay everyone!
Has your role changed over the last 10 years, if so, how?
When I joined Robinsons as a management accountant 10 years ago, we only had five people in the finance team and three of them were actually employed by our external accountants. The team has grown significantly since then, with the growth of our managed pubs and the increased need for insightful financial information to support the business strategy.
Before the business needs developed, I used to be responsible for the financial reporting/planning and analysis for all departments (FP&A), but the level of analysis that we now provide would make it impossible for that to be done by just one person. Our Managed pubs have grown from about 7 pubs to 29 since I’ve been here, and we now have a dedicated FP&A role for that area of the business.
With the growth in the finance team also came opportunities for personal development and having started out as a management accountant I’ve since had the opportunity to work through various project-based roles before becoming the head of the FP&A team.
