NOMINAL in Collabora Office: Recover a Nominal Annual Compounding Rate
Use Collabora NOMINAL to convert an effective annual rate to a stated compounding convention, then verify the periodic and annual factors.
Verification status: See the evidence and test scope described in this guide. How formula examples are checked
Quick answer: =NOMINAL(13.5%;12) has independently expected result approximately 12.730316696%, matching the official help’s rounded 12.73% example.
Syntax and rate definitions
=NOMINAL(EffectiveRate; NPerY)
EffectiveRate is the effective annual rate. NPerY is the number of compounding periods per year. Both arguments are required. Use a positive effective rate and an integer period count at least one for the ordinary examples.
The independent conversion is NPerY*((1+EffectiveRate)^(1/NPerY)-1). Dividing the result by NPerY gives the periodic compounding rate. The annual nominal rate itself is not the amount earned after compounding for a full year.
This is a mathematical rate conversion. It does not include fees, taxes, day-count rules or a financial product’s contractual annual-percentage-rate definition. Keep the chosen compounding convention visible beside the result.
Example 1: recover a familiar nominal rate
Put =(1+12%/12)^12-1 in F2 as an effective annual rate. Its independent value is approximately 12.682503013%. Put 12 in F3.
Enter =NOMINAL(F2;F3) in F5. The independent target is 12%. In F6 use =F5/F3 to obtain the monthly periodic rate of 1%.
Rebuilding the annual accumulation with =(1+F6)^F3-1 should target the original F2 value. Keep the full calculated F2 value instead of replacing it with a rounded percentage from a report.
Example 2: reproduce the documented 13.5% case
Put 13.5% in A2 and 12 in B2. In C2 enter =NOMINAL(A2;B2), independently approximately 0.127303167. Format it as a percentage to show approximately 12.730316696%.
In D2 use =C2/B2; the independent monthly rate is approximately 1.060859725%. In E2 use =(1+D2)^B2-1; the target is 13.5%.
Dividing 13.5% by twelve instead would give 1.125% per month and a different annual compounded result. An effective annual rate cannot be converted to a periodic compound rate by simple division.
Advanced application: change the nominal convention
For one fixed effective annual rate, a nominal rate quoted with annual compounding differs from one quoted with monthly compounding. With NPerY=1, NOMINAL(e;1)=e mathematically. With twelve periods, the nominal rate is lower for a positive e because compounding supplies the remaining annual increase.
For e=13.5%, =NOMINAL(13.5%;1) targets 13.5%, while the twelve-period result is approximately 12.730316696%. These are equivalent accumulation conventions under the model, not evidence that one has a better economic return.
Advanced application: audit a principal balance
Take a hypothetical principal of 1000 and e=13.5%. The year-end target is 1135. With n=NOMINAL(e;12), =1000*(1+n/12)^12 should target the same 1135.
If a comparison produces a different total, check whether the effective rate was mistakenly used as n, whether a periodic rate was labeled annual, or whether intermediate rates were rounded. The conversion does not account for additional deposits or withdrawals during the year.
Source-level edge cases
Current Collabora core source rejects EffectiveRate<=0 or NPerY<1 and approximately floors an otherwise valid fractional period count. In particular, its zero-rate guard differs from core EFFECT, which explicitly accepts a zero nominal rate.
These are source observations from the current moving main branch, not native desktop tests. The guide concerns NOMINAL itself rather than a separately named NOMINAL_ADD variant. Use whole-number period counts and do not assume alias behavior from similar names.
Errors and troubleshooting
Enter percentage values consistently: 13.5% is stored as 0.135. A bare 13.5 would represent 1350%. The period count is per year, not the total number of periods over a multiyear investment.
Keep nominal, periodic and effective rates in separate labeled cells. If the input is already a nominal annual rate, NOMINAL is the wrong direction of conversion. Native error displays, text coercion and all extreme-value tolerances remain unverified.
Availability and verification
The exact function is documented in Collabora Office 26.04 desktop help. The snapshot was retrieved on 2026-10-13 and hash-verified on October 15, 2026. Desktop help does not establish Online or mobile support. First introduced release and last functioning version are unknown; the dedicated evidence does not establish them.
No native Collabora or WPS run occurred. Worked values are independent mathematical expectations, not verification of every native error, coercion or numerical limit. Formulas use English names and semicolon separators.
A current Collabora interpreter source snapshot retrieved October 15, 2026 corroborates the stated formula or input handling. It is a moving-main source snapshot rather than a pinned 26.04 binary or native application execution.