Explanation 1:
The date of record is the date in which the company identifies all of its current stockholders, and therefore everyone who is eligible to receive the dividend. If you’re not on the list, you don’t get the dividend.
In today’s market, settlement of stocks is a T+2 process, which means that a transaction is entered into the company’s record books two business days after the trade.
To ensure that you are in the record books, you need to buy the stock at least two business days before the date of record, or one day before the ex-dividend date.
Explanation 2:
The Record Date for a dividend is the date by reference to which the Company will determine which shareholders on its share register are entitled to receive the dividend.
More specifically, the Record Date is 5.00 pm (in the case of an ASTC regulated transfer, a later time permitted by the ASTC Settlement Rules) on the date specified by the Company as the date by reference to which the Company will identify the shareholders on the Company’s register entitled to the dividend.
The Record Date is sometimes referred to as the close of books date.