Finder on iMac M1 not updating file dates correctly

My 2021 iMac M1 (Tahoe 26.1) finder is not updating files dates properly.

I have tried timezone, security & privacy & general settings (& restarted) but the finder is still making up file dates from (sometimes) years ago to files that I was working days ago.

any assistance would be greatly appreciated as I can't trust my finder to record the latest iteration of my files which I send out to my supplier for printing