The formalism necessary to study the collective properties of a plasma system with inhomogeneous flows is nonlocal and generally in the form of an integrodifferential equation. Usually the eigenvalue condition is reduced to a second-order differential equation for simplicity. While the gross physical behavior of the system can be obtained from the second-order differential equation level of description, higher-order corrections are necessary for greater accuracy. The limit in which the scale-size of the velocity inhomogeneity is large compared to the ion gyroradius is considered and a transverse flow profile sharply localized in space (“top-hat” profile) is assumed. In this limit, a simple analytical method for the solution of the general eigenvalue condition to all orders is developed. A comparison of the properties of the solutions obtained from the second-order differential equation level of description with those obtained from higher orders is presented. Both the resonant (dissipative) and the nonresonant (reactive) effects of velocity shear are considered. It is found that while the overall features are well represented by the second-order level of description, the higher-order corrections moderate the destabilizing effects due to velocity shear, which can be quite significant in some cases. ©1998 American Institute of Physics.