NPV Function in Excel

NPV Function (Table of contents)

• Introduction to Excel NPV Function
• NPV Formula in Excel
• Use of NPV Formula in Excel
• Issues with NPV
• How to Use NPV in Excel?

Introduction to Excel NPV Function

NPV function in excel is used for calculating Net Present Value, which involves the series of cash flow at a particular discount rate. Mostly NPV function is used in financial analysis work where we need to calculate the investment done in any project or assignment by any company. For example, if a company invests in a product for 3 years, we can find the net present value at any rate for each year to know the worth of the total invested amount.

NPV Formula in Excel

The Formula for the NPV function is as follows:

Rate (required) – It is the discount rate suitable for the investment which is used to discount the projected net cash flows to time 0.

Values (required) – Refers to the stream of cash flows that the project is generating. The stream of cash flows must be compatible and equidistant, i.e. the time should be equal between two cash flows.

The Math behind NPV Formula:

Below is the mathematical formula for calculating an individual cash flow for the present value.

NPV = F / [ (1 + i)^n ]

Where,

• PV – Present Value
• F – Future payment (cash flow)
• i – Discount rate (or interest rate)
• n – the number of periods in the future the cash flow is

Use of NPV Formula in Excel

Most financial analysts don’t calculate the net present value with a calculator; instead, they use the NPV function.

=NPV(discount rate%, series of cash flow)

Step 1 – Enter the discount rate in a cell.

Step 2 – Enter the cash flows in the series (In consecutive cells).

Step 3 – Type “=NPV (“ select the discount rate “,” select the cash flow cells “)”.

The NPV function returns the result as $34.4.

Issues with NPV

First of all, what’s the issue with NPV in Excel? Why so many people face issues while using it? Well, contradictory to popular belief, the NPV function does not actually compute the Net Present Value. Instead, it computes the present value of a series of cash flows, but it doesn’t net out the actual cash outflow at zero time period. This actual outflow of the cash actually needs to be subtracted out manually when using the NPV function.

Before we get into an example, let’s get some concept and understand what NPV actually means in finance. NPV is directly the difference between value and cost. This implies, to find NPV, we just take the present value of a series of future cash flows at a specific discount rate, then simply subtract out what our original cost is to obtain that stream of cash flows.

How to Use NPV Function in Excel?

This NPV function is very simple easy to use. Let us now see how to use the NPV Function with the help of some examples.

Let’s take a few examples. Suppose we have the following series of cash flows as shown in the below examples:

Example #1

Suppose we are working on the below dataset on cash inflows and outflows:

The below spreadsheet gives a simple illustration of how the NPV function works in Excel.

The rate arguments applied to the function are stored in cell C11, and the value arguments have been stored in cells C5-C9 of the spreadsheet.

The NPV is entered in cell C12.

The NPV formula is applied in cell C12.

When we apply the NPV function on a dataset in the spreadsheet, it gives the result as $1128.45.

Note that, in this example, the investment made initially of $200 (shown in cell C5) took place at the end of the first period. That is why this value is considered the first argument (i.e. value1) to the NPV Function.

The above NPV calculation of $1128.45 considers the -$200.00 initial cash outlay in the series of cash flows. The formula used in cell C12 to calculate NPV is:

=NPV(C11,C5:C9)

Example #2

The below spreadsheet shows another illustration of where the first payment is made initially during the first instance and why this payment should be considered in the NPV Function.

The rate is again 10% and is in cell C11, and value arguments like the cash flow of the transactions are in between the cells ranging C5-C9 of the spreadsheet. The NPV function is entered in cell C12.

This time, when we apply the NPV function on the dataset in the spreadsheet, it gives the result as $1241.29.

We notice that the investment made initially of $200 (shown in cell C5) was done during the investment at the start of the first instance; this value gets excluded in the arguments of the NPV Function. Instead, the first cash flow is added separately to the NPV result.

The above NPV calculation of $1241.29 correctly excludes the $200 initially invested cash outlay in the series of cash flows and then nets it out from the result of the NPV Formula. Below is the formula used in cell C12 to correctly calculate NPV above:

=NPV(C11,C6:C9)+C5

As described in the above example, the NPV (Net Present Value) formula in excel is based on cash flows in the future. If the first cash flow takes place at the initial stage of the first instance, the first cash flow value should be excluded from the values arguments and must be added to the NPV result separately. 

Things to Remember

• The NPV investment begins one period ahead of the date of the value1 cash flow and ends with the last cash flow in the list. The future cash flows derive the NPV computation on excel. If the first cash flow is made at the start of the first period, the first value must be directly added to the NPV result, eliminating the values arguments. Check the examples below for more information.

Let’s take n as the number of cash flows in the list of values; the formula for NPV (Net Present Value) in Excel would be calculated using:

• If the arguments are provided in a range, and all of the non-numeric values in the range are ignored.
• If the arguments are provided individually, numbers, logical values, blank cells, and text representation of numbers are computed as numeric values, while the function ignores other values of a cell that are in text and error form.
• The key difference between PV functions and NPV function is that the PV function allows the flow of cash to begin either at the start or at the end of the period.
• We need to type in transactions, payments, and income values in a correct sequence as NPV functions use the order of the 2nd argument, i.e. value1, value2, value3 … to check the order of cash flows.
• NVP (Net Present Value) function in the latest versions of Excel can accept up to 254 value arguments, but with Excel 2003, only up to 29 values can be supplied to the function.

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