diff --git a/drivers/rtc/Kconfig b/drivers/rtc/Kconfig
index cbde770eb12..7958635f12c 100644
--- a/drivers/rtc/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/rtc/Kconfig
@@ -36,7 +36,9 @@ config RTC_HCTOSYS_DEVICE
 	help
 	  The RTC device that will be used to (re)initialize the system
 	  clock, usually rtc0.  Initialization is done when the system
-	  starts up, and when it resumes from a low power state.
+	  starts up, and when it resumes from a low power state.  This
+	  device should record time in UTC, since the kernel won't do
+	  timezone correction.
 
 	  The driver for this RTC device must be loaded before late_initcall
 	  functions run, so it must usually be statically linked.
diff --git a/drivers/rtc/hctosys.c b/drivers/rtc/hctosys.c
index 178527252c6..33c0e98243e 100644
--- a/drivers/rtc/hctosys.c
+++ b/drivers/rtc/hctosys.c
@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ static int __init rtc_hctosys(void)
 			do_settimeofday(&tv);
 
 			dev_info(rtc->dev.parent,
-				"setting the system clock to "
-				"%d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d (%u)\n",
+				"setting system clock to "
+				"%d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d UTC (%u)\n",
 				tm.tm_year + 1900, tm.tm_mon + 1, tm.tm_mday,
 				tm.tm_hour, tm.tm_min, tm.tm_sec,
 				(unsigned int) tv.tv_sec);