>>>I am assuming these 2 statements are functionally equivalent. Am I correct?
>>>Thanks
>>>

>>>select * ;
>>>from test_financing ;
>>>inner join tip on test_financing.tip_id = tip.tip_id ;
>>>where between(_year,tipyear,tipyear+4) ;
>>>order by lead, st_name, _year 
>>>
>>>select * ;
>>>from tip ;
>>>inner join test_financing on test_financing.tip_id = tip.tip_id ;
>>>where between(_year,tipyear,tipyear+4) ;
>>>order by lead, st_name, _year 
>>>

>>
>>Yes. You will get the same result from both.
>>But abouth to speed you should check Actual Execution Plan.
>
>What is AEP?

If you have SQL Server and same database, you can run your selects there. The only minor difference would be that you need to use BETWEEN differently, e.g.

select * from ... where _Year BETWEEN @TipYearStart and @TipYearEnd

(better use variables for both instead of in SQL).