XL: Basis Argument for Financial Functions

ID: Q108725

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0, 5.0c
Microsoft Excel for Windows NT, version 5.0
Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a
Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

This article describes the Basis argument and how it is evaluated in Microsoft Excel financial functions.

MORE INFORMATION

Basis is the type of day count basis as it relates to financial equations. The following is a list of Microsoft Excel financial functions that use a basis:

   ACCRINT()      COUPNUM()      ODDFPRICE()      PRICEDISC()
   ACCRINTM()     COUPPCD()      ODDFYIELD()      PRICEMAT()
   COUPDAYS()     DISC()         ODDLPRICE()      RECEIVED()
   COUPDAYSNC()   DURATION()     ODDLYIELD()      YIELD()
   COUPNCD()      MDURATION()    PRICE()          YIELDDISC()

There are five types of basis in Microsoft Excel 5.0 and later. Version 4.0 contains four types of basis. The new basis is the European Basis 30/360.

The table below explains all five types of bases with examples for each type:

   Basis           Day count basis
   ------------------------------------

   0 or omitted    30/360
   1               Actual/Actual
   2               Actual/360
   3               Actual/365
   4               European Form 30/360

Basis 4 treats the end of February and the thirty-first of a month differently than the NASD (National Security Dealers) or SIA (Securities Industry Association).

Basis Types

0 or omitted Basis - 30/360 - This method uses 30 days a month for a total of 360 days a year. The yields of agencies are calculated on this basis. These agencies include Government-sponsored organizations that make up a range of Federal Banks, Loan Mortgage Banks. This method uses 180 days.

1 - Actual/Actual - This method is used by Treasuries (Backed by the U.S. Government, no risk investment) which means there are the actual number of days counted. This takes into account if there is a leap year. In reality there could be 365 or 366 days.

2 - Actual/360 - This method is similar to the Actual/Actual method shown above, but only has 360 days per year.

3 - Actual/365 - Same as above, but there are 365 days per year.

4 - European Form 30/360 - This is the European method for starting and ending dates that occur on the 31st of the month. For example: if the starting or ending date is the 31st of a month, it then becomes equal to the thirtieth of the same month.

REFERENCES

Excel 97

For more information about the Basis argument, click Contents And Index on

the Help menu, click the Index tab in Excel Help, type the following text

   yield

and then double-click the selected text to go to the "YIELD worksheet function" topic. If you are unable to find the information you need, ask the Office Assistant.

Excel 95

For more information about Basis, click the Search button in Help and type:

   Financial Functions

Additional query words: 4.00 4.00a 5.00 7.00 8.00 97 XL97 XL7 XL5 XL4 Security Securities Time

Keywords          : kbdta xlformula 
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0,5.0,5.0c,7.0,97; MACINTOSH:5.0,5.0a
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbinfo

Last Reviewed: January 8, 1999