TIME+ column in top command is inaccurate

The column displays CPU time spent per process rather than real time. I can't see if this is specified in the man page but here is some copy-pastage from about.com:

"TIME Total CPU time the task has used since it started. If cumulative mode is on, this also includes the CPU time used by the process's children which have died. You can set cumulative mode with the S command line option or toggle it with the interactive command S. The header line will then be changed to CTIME. "