IRR

Returns the internal rate of return for a series of cash flows represented by the numbers in values. These cash flows do not have to be even, as they would be for an annuity. However, the cash flows must occur at regular intervals, such as monthly or annually. The internal rate of return is the interest rate received for an investment consisting of payments (negative values) and income (positive values) that occur at regular periods.

Syntax

IRR(values,guess)

Values is an array or a reference to cells that contain numbers for which you want to calculate the internal rate of return.

Values must contain at least one positive value and one negative value to calculate the internal rate of return.

IRR uses the order of values to interpret the order of cash flows. Be sure to enter your payment and income values in the sequence you want.

If an array or reference argument contains text, logical values, or empty cells, those values are ignored.

Guess is a number that you guess is close to the result of IRR.

An iterative technique is used to calculate IRR. Starting with guess, IRR cycles through the calculation until the result is accurate within 0.00001 percent. If IRR can't find a result that works after 20 tries, the #NUM! error value is returned.

In most cases you do not need to provide guess for the IRR calculation. If guess is omitted, it is assumed to be 0.1 (10 percent).

If IRR gives the #NUM! error value, or if the result is not close to what you expected, try again with a different value for guess.

Remarks

IRR is closely related to NPV, the net present value function. The rate of return calculated by IRR is the interest rate corresponding to a 0 (zero) net present value. The following formula demonstrates how NPV and IRR are related:

NPV(IRR(B1:B6),B1:B6) equals 3.60E-08 [Within the accuracy of the IRR calculation, the value 3.60E-08 is effectively 0 (zero).]

Example

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank spreadsheet.

Create a blank spreadsheet.
Select the example in the Help topic.

Selecting an example from Help
Press CTRL+C.
In the spreadsheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
To switch between viewing the formula that returns the result and the result in the cell, select the cell and press F2 and then ENTER, or click Commands and Options on the spreadsheet toolbar, click the Formula tab, and look in the Formula in active cell (active cell) box.

Data	Description
-70,000	Initial cost of a business
12,000	Net income for the first five years
15,000	Net income for the first five years
18,000	Net income for the first five years
21,000	Net income for the first five years
26,000	Net income for the first five years
Formula	Description (Result)
=IRR(A2:A6)	Investment's internal rate of return after four years (-2%)
=IRR(A2:A7)	Internal rate of return after five years (9%)
=IRR(A2:A4,-10%)	To calculate the internal rate of return after two years, you need to include a guess (-44%)

Data

Description

-70,000

Initial cost of a business

12,000