How dates and times work

Every date and time you see in Athenty follows three simple rules. They are the same everywhere in the product — the ledger, the audit log, calendars, emails, PDFs, CSV exports — so once you know them, nothing will surprise you.

The three rules

1. Dates never change. A date that was recorded — a transaction date, a closing date, a birthdate, an ID expiry — always shows exactly as it was recorded, for everyone, everywhere. It is never shifted because of a timezone.
2. On-screen times follow you. Any clock time you see in the portal is shown in your timezone, and the timezone abbreviation (like EDT or PDT) is always printed right beside it so there is never any doubt.
3. Documents speak UTC. Any clock time printed into a generated file — a PDF report, a CSV export, an emailed report — is shown in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), clearly labelled, no matter who generated it.

A worked example: the cheque

A trust cheque is cut in Toronto at 4:00 p.m. EDT on July 18. Here is what everyone sees:

Where you look	What it shows
A colleague’s screen in Toronto	4:00 p.m. EDT
A colleague’s screen in Vancouver	1:00 p.m. PDT
The PDF report / CSV export	8:00 p.m. UTC
The transaction date — everywhere	July 18. Always.

All four are the same moment — each one is simply expressed in a clearly labelled timezone. And the transaction date never moves: it is July 18 on every screen and in every file, because rule 1 says dates never change.

Why documents use UTC

A report you download is not just for you — it may be handed to a client, an auditor, a regulator, or a court. The same file must read the same for everyone. If documents printed times in the timezone of whoever clicked “download”, two people could hold the same report showing different times, and a reader would need to know who downloaded it to interpret a timestamp.

UTC is the world’s neutral reference timezone. Printing document times in labelled UTC means the file is unambiguous forever, for every reader.

Dates in documents

Rule 1 still applies inside documents: transaction and effective dates in a ledger PDF or CSV are printed exactly as recorded — never converted. Only clock times (like a “Generated at” stamp or a signing time) use UTC.

Your timezone, and the organization default

• Every user has a display timezone — the zone rule 2 uses for your screen.
• Out of the box it is set to Org default: your organization’s timezone, which your administrator manages under Settings ▸ Organization. It is never unset — if you haven’t chosen one, you simply follow the firm.
• If the firm’s timezone changes, everyone still on Org default follows it automatically.

Changing your personal timezone

1. Go to Profile ▸ General (the Personal tab).
2. Find the Timezone selector.
3. Pick your own timezone — or pick Org default to go back to following the firm.
4. Save. Every time in the portal now shows in your chosen zone, labelled.

This only affects what you see on screen. It never changes what is stored, what colleagues see, the dates on any record, or the times printed in documents.

Quick reference

Kind of value	Example	What happens
A recorded date	Transaction date, closing date, birthdate	Shows as recorded — identical for everyone, on screen and in files
A time on screen	”Cheque issued Jul 18, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT”	Shown in your timezone, always with the zone label
A time in a generated file	”Generated 2026-07-18 20:00:00 UTC”	Always labelled UTC — the same for every reader