Example

Assume we need to calculate the price per $100 face value of a bond with a last interest date of 15-Oct-2017 and a settlement date of 5-Feb-2018. The bond matures on 15-Jun-2018, and pays a coupon rate of 5% with a required return of 6%. Payments are semi-annual, the day count basis is US 30/360, and the redemption value is $100. In the example shown, the formula in F5 is: With these inputs, the ODDLPRICE function returns 99.61, with currency number format applied.

Entering dates

In Excel, dates are serial numbers. Generally, the best way to enter valid dates is to use cell references, as shown in the example. To enter valid dates directly inside a function, the DATE function is the best option. To illustrate, the formula below has all values hardcoded. The DATE function is used to supply each of the three required dates:

Basis

The basis argument controls how days are counted. The ODDLPRICE function allows 5 options (0-4) and defaults to zero, which specifies US 30/360 basis. This article on Wikipedia provides a detailed explanation of available conventions.

Notes

In Excel, dates are serial numbers.  All dates, plus frequency and basis, are truncated to integers. If dates are invalid (i.e. not actually dates) ODDLPRICE returns #VALUE! ODDLPRICE returns #NUM when: (maturity > settlement > last_interest) is NOT true Basis is out-of-range

Dave Bruns

Hi - I’m Dave Bruns, and I run Exceljet with my wife, Lisa. Our goal is to help you work faster in Excel. We create short videos, and clear examples of formulas, functions, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts.