Could Timers Cause Splits?

I was wondering if timers could be one reason for people to get dropped. I mean, if you are playing on battle.net, I am not quite sure how blizzard handles them but, wouldn't they easily get out of sync? Could they be one of the causes of 'server splits' or am I just being stupid.

They won't cause splits by themselves, I think the only way a timer can cause a split is inside a GetLocalPlayer Check