A method for adjusting current clock counts in a distributed database apparatus is accomplished. Each processor assigns a timestamp to a transaction according to its clock when the transaction is generated, and transaction are executed by accessing the database according to timestamp order. A processor in at least a first one of the computer sites accesses an abort count corresponding to a second computer site; compares an abort count corresponding to the first computer site with the abort count corresponding to the second computer site; and changes the current clock count corresponding to the first computer site to more closely match the current clock count corresponding to the second computer site, at times when the comparison between the abort counts in the first and second computer sites indicates that new transactions have been aborted more frequently in one of the two computer sites.