Calculate Internal Rate of Return

Shetha,

Numbers does have an IRR function which may serve your needs. After selecting the cell for your formula, click on the fx to the left of the entry bar for a complete list of available functions. You can select the IRR function or you can select the financial functions and find it that way. When selecting a function you will see what parameters are needed and you can also get more detailed information, including examples, by clicking on "More help with this function".

I'm not well versed in the use of this function, but it appears that time periods are not involved, only the amounts of the individual payments. The examples given seem to be clear enough and Googling "Internal Rate of Return" brings a whole host of reference sites on this topic.

pw

PW,

To expand a little on your answer, for Shetha's benefit, each payment or receipt in the parameter range represents the net cash flow for one period in a series of equally spaced periods. The result of the calculation will be the effective interest rate, per period, making the NPV (net present value) equal to zero. The user will have to select a period consistent with his or her accounting style and then enter the net for each period, even if some periods have no activity, entering zero for those. The length of the period is whatever you wish, but must be uniform, and the resulting interest rate is the rate for the period you choose.

Regards,

Jerry

Jerry,

Thanks for your clarification. After reading Shetha's query I thought he/she was looking for a variation of IRR that dealt with unequal time periods. I also thought that such a function might exist -- after all, from reading this forum, it seems that Excel has a function for every conceivable situation. Not finding any references to time periods in my investigation of IRR, I concluded that perhaps varying time periods did not matter even though my instincts said otherwise. Shows what I know! Thanks for taking the time to clear this matter up for me. Best wishes,

pw

PW,

You're right, the statement of need was a little vague, but I think you took it in the right direction.

Jerry

Shetha,

I guess you win some and you lose some. I lost when I failed to find XIRR when fishing around looking for an IRR function involving irregular time periods, but I was right when I suspected that Excel had a function for almost every conceivable situation. Be that as it may, I still don't find any such function in Numbers. Perhaps you should check for yourself as I suggested in my first response. Not being all that familiar with financial functions, maybe I missed it.

pw