Excel - Microsoft Excel Irr Function

Description

The Excel IRR function returns the Internal Rate of Return for a supplied series of periodic cash flows (ie. a set of values, which includes an initial investment value and a series of net income values). 

The syntax of the function is : 

IRR( values, [guess] ) .

Where the arguments are as follows : 

Irr Function Example

In the spreadsheet below, the cashflow for an investment is shown in cells B1 - B6. The initial investment of $100 is shown in cell B1 and the net income over the next 5 years is shown in cells B2 - B6. 

The IRR function in cell D2 shows the calculation of the Internal Rate of Return after 3 years and the function in cell D4 shows the Internal Rate of Return after 5 years. The formulas for the equations are shown in the spreadsheet on the left and the results are shown in the spreadsheet on the right. 

Irr Function Error

If you get an error from the Excel Irr function, this is likely to be the #NUM! error: 

Common Error