What best practices should be followed when troubleshooting discrepancies in time() values in PHP scripts?

When troubleshooting discrepancies in time() values in PHP scripts, it's important to ensure that the server's timezone settings are correctly configured. Additionally, using the date_default_timezone_set() function to explicitly set the timezone in your script can help avoid inconsistencies. Finally, checking for any potential issues with daylight saving time adjustments or differences between server and client timezones can also help resolve discrepancies.

// Set the timezone to the desired value
date_default_timezone_set('America/New_York');

// Get the current timestamp with the correct timezone
$current_time = time();
echo date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $current_time);