CUMPRINC Function in Google Sheets: Formula, Examples & Troubleshooting

CUMPRINC totals the principal component of payments over a chosen period range. It answers “how much of the original debt did these payments repay?” For the two-year loan below, the first twelve payments repay 5820.502083760, returned as a signed cash outflow of -5820.502083760.

Verification: NOT_TESTED_IN_GOOGLE_SHEETS. New values are independently computed with a monthly amortization ledger. Google’s published example provides documentation evidence for the negative repayment sign and cumulative principal model; it is not a fresh native run.

=CUMPRINC(rate, number_of_periods, present_value, first_period, last_period, end_or_beginning)

All six arguments are required. Supply the periodic interest rate, full payment count, original principal, first selected period, last selected period, and payment timing. Google documents first_period as at least 1 and last_period as greater than first_period; timing 0 means end and 1 means beginning. There is no future-value parameter. Keep rate and term units consistent. Google CUMPRINC reference.

The worked model uses positive principal, a positive monthly rate, integer period bounds, and end timing. Fractional-bound behavior is not stated in this reference, so this guide does not borrow the rounding rule documented for CUMIPMT.

Set up the inputs:

In B10 enter:

=CUMPRINC(B2/B3,B4,B5,B6,B7,B8)

Expected result: -5820.502083760. Format the display to two decimals if appropriate, but do not round individual monthly principal amounts before summing them for this audit.

The balance after twelve payments is independently expected to be 6179.497916240. Because B10 is signed negative, =B5+B10 gives that balance. Subtracting B10 would incorrectly increase the original debt.

In B11 enter the arithmetic fixed-payment formula:

=-B5*(B2/B3)/(1-(1+B2/B3)^(-B4))

The result is -531.847323033. Enter D2 =$B$5, E2 =-D2*$B$2/$B$3, F2 =$B$11-E2, and G2 =D2+F2. These columns represent opening balance, signed interest, signed principal, and closing balance.

Set D3 to =G2, fill D3:D25, and fill E2:G2 down through E25:G25. The first twelve principal components are F2:F13, so =SUM(F2:F13) gives the expected CUMPRINC result.

Each row’s interest and principal add to the total payment. The principal portion grows as the interest portion shrinks in this end-payment model.

Use these two non-overlapping ranges to build an annual movement report:

For the second row, use =CUMPRINC(B2/B3,B4,B5,13,24,0). Keep B5 at the original 12,000; do not substitute the year-two opening balance while retaining the original term and period numbers.

A full-term call, =CUMPRINC(B2/B3,B4,B5,1,24,0), is independently expected to total -12,000. The first year’s cash payments are =B11*12, or -6382.167876397. Subtracting first-year signed principal gives -561.665792637 of signed interest. Principal repayment and total payments answer different reporting questions.

These checks describe a fully amortizing, constant-rate schedule with no fees or extra payments. A real contract with rounding at each installment or a final adjusted payment may need a separate schedule.

Google’s public example uses a 50,000 loan, 5% annual rate divided by 12, 36 monthly payments, and timing 0. Its printed CUMPRINC formulas show annual principal totals -15842.32083, -16652.84403, and -17504.83514. Their independently reproduced values sum to -50,000 before display rounding. Published CUMPRINC example.

Check whether you passed the annual rate instead of the monthly rate, shortened the full term to the selected reporting range, or accidentally changed the timing. A negative result is expected for the positive-principal repayment example; it does not mean the debt grew.

This guide does not establish exact error codes for invalid inputs, zero/negative-rate behavior, fractional period rounding, or beginning-payment numerical rules. Keep the selected range inside the full term and follow the documented ordering requirement. If a result is being hidden by an error wrapper, temporarily inspect the underlying formula and inputs.

This is the Google Sheets contract, not a promise of identical validation or rounding in another spreadsheet. Introduction and retirement dates were not established by the reviewed sources.

Related: SUM, ROUND, and IFERROR.

First-party references reviewed October 17, 2026: Google CUMPRINC help and the linked public example above.