IRR Function Example

In this example, the IRR function returns the internal rate of return for a series of 5 cash flows contained in the array Values(). The first array element is a negative cash flow representing business start-up costs. The remaining 4 cash flows represent positive cash flows for the subsequent 4 years. Guess is the estimated internal rate of return.

Dim Guess, Fmt, RetRate, Msg
Static Values(5) As Double    ' Set up array.
Guess = .1    ' Guess starts at 10 percent.
Fmt = "#0.00"    ' Define percentage format.
Values(0) = -70000    ' Business start-up costs.
' Positive cash flows reflecting income for four successive years.
Values(1) = 22000 : Values(2) = 25000
Values(3) = 28000 : Values(4) = 31000
RetRate = IRR(Values(), Guess) * 100    ' Calculate internal rate.
Msg = "The internal rate of return for these five cash flows is "
Msg = Msg & Format(RetRate, Fmt) & " percent."
MsgBox Msg    ' Display internal return rate.