XIRR Function in Apple Numbers: Dated Cash Flows and Worked Examples

• Introduced: Documented in Apple’s Formulas and Functions Help 15.4; the original introduction release is not established.
• Availability: Currently documented for Numbers in that help version; it is not a final supported-version endpoint.
• Scope: Shared iWork function help; individual-client and older-release availability are not established by this check.
• Checked: October 14, 2026, against the official XIRR reference. Documentation and independent arithmetic checks; no native Numbers test.

Use XIRR for real-world investment histories with irregular transaction dates: deposits made on different days, business-project cash injections, distributions, sale proceeds and one-off capital receipts. Apple’s financial function selection guide distinguishes the IRR calculation for amounts at equal intervals from XIRR, which associates each amount with a date. XIRR is a return measure, not a proof that investment performance was attractive after fees, taxes or risk.

• Record cash paid out as negative values and cash received as positive values for a single consistent investor perspective. The signs follow the cash-flow interpretation in Apple’s IRR help; XIRR’s help identifies corresponding payments and dates but does not restate every IRR restriction.
• Each payment requires a corresponding date value. Use actual date-formatted Numbers cells, not regional date strings whose meaning may change after an import.
• An investment valued but not sold at a reporting date may be modeled with a hypothetical positive terminal value, explicitly labeled as a valuation assumption rather than cash actually received.
• XIRR’s time-weighting is sensitive to transaction dates. Simply adding transaction amounts without their dates is not a substitute.

=XIRR(payments, dates, guess)

The XIRR reference does not state an omitted-guess default, iteration limit or exact error matrix. Do not import IRR’s documented 10% estimate default into XIRR without separate evidence.

Create a Numbers table called InvestmentHistory with at least four columns (A:D), five rows and a header row (row 1). Enter the following as four data rows. To avoid ambiguous typed dates, put the displayed DATE formulas into column C; alternatively enter recognized calendar dates and format the cells as dates. Apple’s DATE function builds date values from year, month and day arguments.

Enter in D2 of the same table:

=XIRR(B2:B5,C2:C5)

Independent expected value: approximately 0.3032993772290662, or 30.329937723%. The independent cash-flow model discounts each receipt by elapsed days / 365 and solves the zero-net-present-value condition. The residual is approximately zero. This ACT/365 model reproduces Apple’s published example below, but the function page does not explicitly specify its day-count algorithm; treat the model as an independent check rather than a documented guarantee for all dates and releases.

Why this is not the same number as =IRR(B2:B5): IRR would treat these four entries as three equally spaced periods and yields an independently calculated 8.896339469% per period, whereas the events above are closer together. These rates have different time units and must not be compared as if they were both annual yields.

Create a separate table named OneYearPair, leaving InvestmentHistory unchanged. Enter −1,000 in B2 and +1,100 in B3. Enter real dates =DATE(2025,1,1) in C2 and =DATE(2026,1,1) in C3. Those dates are exactly 365 days apart. Then:

=XIRR(B2:B3,C2:C3)

The independent conventional annual discounted-cash-flow equation has root 0.1 (10%). This is a simple check for the stated 365-day interval.

In a third table named AppleExample, put these five cash flows directly in A1:A5 and their dates in B1:B5, with no header row. For unambiguous date entry use DATE with the shown year, month and day, such as =DATE(2019,3,2) for March 2. These are Apple’s published XIRR inputs:

Apple states that =XIRR(A1:A5,B1:B5) returns an approximate 58.496548%. Independent ACT/365-style numerical calculations reproduce approximately 58.496547523%, matching the cited result at six displayed decimal places. Enter the formula in C1 so it does not overwrite the inputs.

Return to the unchanged InvestmentHistory table. To provide a starting estimate for its four cash flows, enter the following in D3:

=XIRR(B2:B5,C2:C5,0.1)

The independently expected root for this dataset remains about 30.329937723%. You offered a starting guess of ten percent, not that you required a ten-percent return or capped the answer at that rate. A starting estimate does not guarantee convergence or a unique solution. Changing guesses must never be used to disguise an inconsistent or implausible financial model.

Multiple cash-flow sign reversals can yield multiple mathematical roots or unstable results; the underlying discounted-cash-flow equation is nonlinear. This is a mathematical warning, not a claim about exactly which root Numbers would choose. If there is no net outgoing capital or no meaningful return for your data, do not invent an investment performance figure to fill a report.

For an investment purchased for −10,000, receiving 3,000 and 4,000 on interim dates, then valued at 5,000 on 1 January 2026, the final positive entry may represent assumed resale value rather than cash received. Label the last row Estimated value—not realized proceeds. The same numerical XIRR calculation estimates a valuation-inclusive return, not a realized cash-on-cash profit. Ensure the final valuation and any fee/tax assumptions are consistently measured.

For a portfolio with ongoing deposits, fees and withdrawals, entering gross distributions but net contributions can exaggerate XIRR. Use an auditable cash-flow ledger, record currencies and whether tax/transaction costs have already been deducted, and define which person or entity’s cash-flow perspective the signs represent.

Numbers reference documentation for Mac permits cell ranges such as B2:B5; for another table it can add the table name and :: (and the sheet name when necessary). Prefer selecting the source cells in the Formula Editor so the program generates the correct qualified ranges. If you copy from an Excel workbook, do not blindly paste a Sheet!B2:B5 address into Numbers.

Dates should be actual date-valued cells. In the examples above, DATE(year,month,day) avoids ambiguous 01/02/2025 regional notation. Apple’s Language & Region guide confirms that document settings affect decimal points, currency and date presentations. The English help uses commas as separators; if your local Formula Editor displays different argument punctuation, follow that interface rather than transplanting separators from an external spreadsheet product.

Do not conceal errors using a blanket IFERROR(...,0) in an investment report: zero return is a valid financial statement and not the same as an invalid calculation. In the Numbers app, inspect the Formula Editor error help before editing source data.

• DATE in Numbers: create unambiguous calendar-date inputs.
• ROUND in Numbers: distinguish numeric rounding from display precision.
• IFERROR in Numbers: use error handling without disguising invalid data.
• Apple IRR: periodic cash-flow requirements and estimate.
• Apple XIRR: dated cash flows, optional guess and published example.
• Apple financial-function selection: choosing among periodic and dated return functions.