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Finance functions

Use this category when you need standard financial calculations such as present value, future value, annuity payments, discounting, and investment appraisal.

These functions are typically used for cash flow modeling, financing schedules, valuation, and depreciation.

Start here if…

  • You want to discount cash flows, for example with NPV or PV
  • You want an investment return metric, for example IRR
  • You want annuity-style calculations such as payments, periods, or rate
  • You need depreciation logic per period

Not here if…

Mental model

  • Most finance functions assume a rate per period and a time series of payments or cash flows

  • Results are sensitive to:

    • the time granularity, for example month vs year
    • the sign convention, for example inflows vs outflows
    • whether inputs are complete, since missing values can break calculations

Common patterns

Discount a series of cash flows

Use when you want net present value at a discount rate.

NPV('DiscountRate', 'CashFlow')

Compute internal rate of return

Use when you want the discount rate that sets NPV to zero.

IRR('CashFlow')

Calculate a periodic payment

Use for annuity payments like loan repayment, leasing, or savings plans.

PMT('Rate', 'Periods', 'PresentValue')

Solve for number of periods

Use when rate and payment are known and you want the duration.

NPER('Rate', 'Payment', 'PresentValue')

Solve for the rate

Use when periods and payments are known and you need the implied interest rate.

RATE('Periods', 'Payment', 'PresentValue', …)

Compute present value

Use when you want to discount an annuity-like stream into a present value.

PV('Rate', 'Periods', 'Payment', …)

Compute future value

Use when you want to project an annuity-like stream into the future.

FV('Rate', 'Periods', 'Payment', …)

Model depreciation per period

Use when you want straight-line depreciation over time.

DEPRECIATION('InitialValue', 'DepreciationTime')

Functions in this category

FunctionDescription
NPVCalculates net present value from a discount rate and a series of cash flows.
IRRCalculates the internal rate of return.
PVCalculates present value given rate, periods, payments, and future value/type.
FVCalculates the future value of a recurring annuity given interest rate, periods, and payments.
PMTCalculates the periodic payment for an investment given rate, periods, and present value.
NPERCalculates the number of periods for an investment given rate, payment, and present value.
RATESolves for the interest rate per period of an annuity given periods, payments, present value, and optional parameters.
DEPRECIATIONCalculates straight-line depreciation per period from initial value and depreciation time.

Choosing between similar functions

NPV vs PV

  • Use NPV to discount a cash flow series into a single net present value
  • Use PV for present value of an annuity-style stream with structured parameters

IRR vs NPV

  • Use NPV when the discount rate is known and you want the value
  • Use IRR when the value target is NPV = 0 and you want the implied rate

PMT vs PV/FV

  • Use PMT when you want the periodic payment
  • Use PV or FV when you want present or future value given payment and rate

NPER vs RATE

  • Use NPER when the rate is known and you want the number of periods
  • Use RATE when the number of periods is known and you want the implied rate

Pitfalls & troubleshooting

  • Rate scaling errors: if results are off by a large factor, confirm your rate is per period, for example monthly vs yearly
  • IRR instability: IRR needs cash flows with at least one sign change (mix of inflows and outflows)
  • Missing values: if results are missing, check whether inputs are missing at the same intersections
  • Too much dimensionality: if cash flow nodes have extra dimensions such as Product or Region, validate one representative slice first before rolling up
  • Depreciation timing mismatch: if depreciation looks shifted, confirm that depreciation time aligns with your project’s time granularity
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