Explanation
The EOMONTH function returns the last day of a month based on a given date. The 2nd argument is months, which specifies how many months in the future or past to move before returning the last day. By traveling back 2 months, then adding one day, we can calculate the first day of the previous month from any given date.
In the example shown, months is supplied as -2, which causes EOMONTH to return 4/30/2015. Then, 1 day is added to get 5/1/2015.
Related formulas
Get first day of month
The DAY function returns the day value for a date. In the example show, the day value for the date in B5 (January 11, 2016) is 11. Because dates are just serial numbers in Excel, we can subtract 11, then add 1 to get the date value for January 1, 2016. Alternative with EOMONTH The EOMONTH function...
Get last day of month
The 2nd argument ( months ) of the EOMONTH function allows you to get the last day of the month in future or past months. When you use zero for months, EOMONTH will return the last day of the month in the same month. To get the last day of the prior month, use: =EOMONTH(date,-1) To get the last day...
Related functions
EOMONTH Function
The Excel EOMONTH function returns the last day of the month, n months in the past or future. You can use EOMONTH to calculate expiration dates, due dates, and other dates that need to land on the last day of a month. Use a positive value for months to move forward in time, and a negative number...
