How to Calculate ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue)

A company with a growth metric of USD 5 Million to USD 10 Million, tends to perform better because they’re not just selling to new customers but also to old ones. So, how to calculate ARR – also known as Annual Recurring Revenue? 

Before we give you the answer to this most important question, let us first talk about metrics. Given the proper context and understanding, metrics are powerful tools. They enable you to frame what success looks like for your business, make better forecasts, and drive your company’s growth plans. 

One of those metrics is annual recurring revenue for subscription companies, which is true for most SaaS companies. It offers an overview of the health of your business so that you identify how fast you need to grow to keep building on that achievement.

A Healthy ARR Can Scale Up Your Business to Newer Heights

What does ARR mean

To fully understand ‘How to calculate ARR?’, we must begin by telling you the full form of ARR. ARR full form is your annual recurring revenue, which refers to the sum of all income from client contracts over the next 12 months. This includes customer contracts that run a year or more as well as annualized versions of monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly contracts.

It is different from the average rate of return method i.e. the average yearly amount expected from a said investment. We get the average rate of return formula by dividing the average yearly profit by the investment.

SaaS companies value projected ARR highly because it helps them understand the growth trajectory of their firms, decide when to plow back money in, and track Product/Market fit. Investors also look at ARR as a yardstick for betting on a firm’s future because it gives an overview of revenue predictability.

What are the Components of ARR?

The thing about ARR that matters for most businesses is growth momentum in the typical components making up their Annual Recurring Revenue. The usual components include:

• ARR added from new sales
• ARR retained from renewals
• ARR added from upgrades and upsets in mid-term or at renewal time
• ARR lost from downgrades and product changes in mid-term or at renewal time
• ARR lost from churned customers or revenue 

Business Enterprises Depend a Lot on ARR Performance These Days

How to Calculate ARR

When we talk about ‘How do you calculate ARR?’, this is how we can calculate the accounting rate of return.

The formula for how to calculate ARR is:

ARR formula= Average Annual Profit divided by Initial Investment

This is what the ARR equation looks like. The formula for ARR may include earnings from the investment minus any annual costs or expenses of putting in place the project or investment.

For instance, if the investment is a fixed asset such as property, plant and equipment (PP&E) then you will subtract any depreciation expense from its annual revenue to obtain an annual net profit.

Importance of ARR

Now that you have found out how to calculate ARR, you should keep in mind at all times that ARR growth is a vital metric for any business that runs on subscriptions. Your company can have its overall health checked with this data and not only that but also see whether your efforts are adding up or slowing down overall growth momentum. How much you grow is disclosed by recurring revenue.

If your company has ARR as its benchmark, it can understand its continued success. Without ARR as a baseline, it will be difficult for your company to appreciate its sustained success.

ARR vs MRR

ARR and MRR differ in that, ARR is calculated annually while MRR is calculated monthly. ARR explains the recurring income of a company on a broader scale while MRR represents it on a smaller scale. Both are useful to gauge how healthy your business is. This information can help you predict the growth in revenue as your company expands and determine what to do with such proceeds.

If you’re a SaaS company, then ARR will show you progression over a year which comes in handy in long-term product planning as well as creating company roadmaps.

On the other hand, MRR gives a clearer look into the growth of the business each month. It’s another way to measure what immediate effects any changes have had on renewals due to product or pricing strategy changes. And monitor minor fluctuations that might be connected with customer health at various points during the year.

Overall, combining them allows for better road mapping and monthly progress checks. With more data-informed decisions, one can pivot faster and deliver improved customer experience ultimately.

In the World of Finance, ARR Has Taken Up an Integral Role

How to Optimize ARR

MRR/ARR is the most distilled measure of how quickly your business is progressing. The longer you get recurring revenue, you will be able to continuously grow and extend your attack plan. As a reminder, remember that MRR/ARR is what makes up the SaaS engine and keeps it functional. Here are four ways that an entrepreneur can generate further MRR/ARR for his or her SaaS Company.

1. Increase net customer acquisition – You can add more MRR/ARR for your business by having more qualified leads come in through the door. Optimize the LTV/CAC ratio to a point where the acquisition strategy is efficient and customer acquisition cost is low

2. Drive expansionary revenue through upgrades and value metrics – There is a lot of money left on the table from current customers; entice them into upgrading your product by aligning it with your value metric. Hence, here’s more about how to identify and optimize software as a service value metric.

3. Improve your retention to increase your LTV – Your product is made for retaining customers, or in other words, appropriately aligned with the right value metric that you believe matches your customer personas. Naturally, this will allow for more MRR/ARR by expanding both the number of retained clients as well as the length of existence.

4. Reduce your customer acquisition costs – Typically Software-as-a-Service firms start small and are low-cost; hence reduction is only an issue for industries requiring massive funds. Let this be a last-ditch effort if you have done everything but still need to manipulate your MRR/ARR numbers up a little bit more. Also remember that because of their absence in MRR calculation, these sums won’t physically move the MRR number itself. Still, bringing CAC down can render improved efficiency within one’s MRR structure.

At CrossVal, we process your company’s complicated calculations and data to simplify them for your benefit. You will then be able to handle all your company’s enormous datasets for higher efficiency. Also, to get a good grasp over topics such as ‘What is ARR in business?’ and ‘What is ARR in finance’, ‘ARR in Financial Management’, and several others, visit our resources page. 

If you are looking to build your personalized financial model for the smooth running of your business, you can go through our pricing plans.