Formulas and functions > Functions from A to Z > IRR (internal rate of return)

Syntax:

IRR(Values [, Guess])

Description:

This returns an estimate of the internal rate of return for a series of cash flows. In contrast to the MIRR function, no finance or reinvestment rates are taken into account.

The calculation is based on the cash flows specified in the argument Values. Payments have to be entered as negative values, and income as positive values. The cash flows may vary in size, but they must occur at equal time intervals (for example, monthly or annually).

The function expects the following arguments:

Values is a cell range or array containing the cash flows. There must be at least one payment and one income.

Guess (optional) lets you specify an estimate for the result (see note below).

Note:

The result of this function is calculated using an iterative search technique. If the function does not find a result with an accuracy of 0.00001% or better after 20 iterations, it aborts and the #NUM! error value is returned. If this occurs, try specifying a different value for Guess.