VMS Help ACCOUNTING, /BEFORE, Description  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    All records in an accounting file are time-stamped with the time
    the record was logged in the file.

    The /BEFORE qualifier selects only the records time-stamped
    before the specified time. You can specify an absolute time, a
    delta time, or a combination of the two. If you omit the time,
    00:00 hours on the current day is used.

    See also the /SINCE qualifier, which selects records time-stamped
    at or after a specified time.