XIRR Function in Google Sheets: Explained

In this article, you will learn how to use the XIRR formula in Google Sheets.

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What is the XIRR function in Google Sheets?

The XIRR function in Google Sheets calculates the internal rate of return (IRR) for a series of cash flows that occur at irregular intervals. This function is similar to the IRR function, but allows you to specify the dates for each cash flow, rather than assuming that the cash flows occur at regular intervals.

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How to use the XIRR formula in Google Sheets

The syntax for the XIRR function is as follows:

=XIRR(values, dates, [guess])

values is a range of cells that contain the cash flows for each period.

dates is a range of cells that contain the dates for each cash flow.

guess (optional) is an initial estimate for the IRR. If this argument is omitted, Google Sheets will use a default value of 0.1.

The cash flows in the values range must be in the same order as the dates in the dates range. The values and dates arguments must be the same length.

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For example, if you wanted to calculate the IRR of a series of cash flows with the dates in cells A1:A5 and the corresponding cash flows in cells B1:B5, you could use the following formula:

=XIRR(B1:B5, A1:A5)

This would calculate the IRR of the cash flows using the dates in cells A1:A5.

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What is the difference between the XIRR and IRR functions in Google Sheets?

The XIRR and IRR functions in Google Sheets are similar, but there is one key difference between them: the IRR function assumes that the cash flows occur at regular intervals, while the XIRR function allows you to specify the dates for each cash flow.