Example: "orders" table include the order_time and customer_id fields. Using these two fields will fill the table as orders arrive. We have a query that sum the number of orders per day.
If an order arrives late, for the sake of the example after a day, and we add an order for yesterday, our query about the sum of orders will suddenly count another. We don't have a way to identify the order that was added late.
In order to identify the late data, we add another column called update_time, using this field we can query and ignore or include the late arrival data.
In case you need to perform something for each order at the end of the day, you can query this field, as without it, your query would never find about the late order.
Hope I didn't make it too complex, and it clear up the idea.