NPV in Collabora Office: Discount Period-End Cash Flows Correctly
Use Collabora NPV with equal-period cash flows, keep the initial time-zero amount separate, and preserve zero-payment periods explicitly.
Verification status: See the evidence and test scope described in this guide. How formula examples are checked
Quick answer: With three end-of-period receipts of 400 and a discount rate of 10% per period, =NPV(10%;400;400;400) has independently expected result approximately 994.740796394. A separate initial cost of 1000 makes net present value approximately −5.259203606.
Syntax and time origin
=NPV(Rate; Number1 [; Number2 [; ...]])
Rate is the discount rate per period. The dedicated Collabora help allows up to 254 cash-flow arguments after Rate, supplied as numbers, cell references or ranges. There must be at least one cash flow.
The first supplied numeric flow is discounted for one period, the next for two, and so on. The independent equation is the sum of cashflow_t/(1+Rate)^t for t starting at one. A time-zero amount belongs outside NPV, because it is not discounted.
The help explicitly says text and empty cells within a data range are ignored and recommends XNPV for irregular dates. Use equal-length periods and numeric zero for a known period with no cash flow.
Example 1: construct an auditable discount table
Put periods 1, 2, 3 in A2:A4 and receipts 400, 400, 400 in B2:B4. Put discount rate 10% in F2. In C2 enter =B2/(1+$F$2)^A2 and fill down.
Independent present values are approximately 363.636363636, 330.578512397 and 300.525920361. Their sum is approximately 994.740796394, matching =NPV($F$2;B2:B4).
Put an initial time-zero outflow of −1000 in F4. Use =F4+NPV($F$2;B2:B4) for net present value, independently approximately −5.259203606. If F4 instead stores a positive cost magnitude of 1000, subtract it rather than adding it.
Example 2: preserve an empty payment period
Suppose receipts are 100 in period one, zero in period two and 100 in period three. Enter numeric values 100, 0, 100 in a three-cell range. At 10%, the independent NPV is approximately 166.040570999.
Leaving the middle cell blank is different. Because blanks are ignored, the two numeric receipts are treated as periods one and two, giving approximately 173.553719008. The current source also confirms that the period counter advances only for accepted numeric values in the relevant range paths.
A blank is therefore not a safe placeholder for a zero cash flow. Check imported text numerals as well: if a receipt is ignored as text, both the amount and the placement of later numeric flows can change.
Advanced application: reproduce the official mixed-flow example
At Rate=8.75%, with flows 10, 20, 30 and −5, =NPV(8.75%;10;20;30;-5) has independent result approximately 45.857311222.
A time-zero cost of 40 reduces this to approximately 5.857311222, matching the official help’s rounded net value 5.86. A later negative flow is included in the discounted series at its actual period, whereas the initial cost remains outside.
Advanced application: inspect sensitivity without treating it as advice
For the same three receipts of 400, a zero discount rate gives a mathematical present-value total of 1200. At 10% the total is approximately 994.740796394. A higher positive discount rate gives less weight to the same future receipts.
This comparison is an arithmetic sensitivity exercise. Choosing a real discount rate requires a justified model and context; the function does not select one, assess risk, include taxes or validate the cash-flow estimates.
Errors and troubleshooting
Keep cash flows in chronological order in a simple one-column range. Irregular dates require an explicitly date-aware model rather than inserting arbitrary empty rows. Do not include a time-zero cost inside the periodic argument range and then subtract it again outside.
Use a numeric rate matched to the period unit. A rate of −100% makes the discount denominator zero; other unusual negative-rate conventions are outside these ordinary examples. The source has separate scalar, range and matrix paths, so the documented range treatment of text must not be generalized to every possible argument form. Native errors and extreme numerical behavior 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.