A to Z of Excel Functions: The DAYS360 Function

Welcome back to our regular A to Z of Excel Functions blog. Today we look at the DAYS360 function.

The DAYS360 function

This function returns the number of days between two dates based on a 360-day year (twelve 30-day months), which is used in some accounting calculations. You should use this function to help compute payments if your accounting system is based on twelve 30-day months.

The DAYS360 function employs the following syntax to operate:

The DAYS360 function has the following arguments:

• start_date: this is required and represents the start date
• end_date: this is also required and represents the end date.  If start_date occurs after end_date, the DAYS360 function returns a negative number.  Dates should be entered by using the DATE function or derived from the results of other formulas or functions.  For example, use DATE(2008,5,23) to return the 23rd day of May, 2008.  Problems can occur if dates are entered as text
• Method: this argument is optional and is a logical value that specifies whether to use the U.S. or European method in the calculation, viz.

Please see my example below:

We’ll continue our A to Z of Excel Functions soon. Keep checking back – there’s a new blog post every business day.

A full page of the function articles can be found here.