Using Date Field Comparison in SUMIFS Formula

[bhujanga]

I'm trying to sum the values in a range, where the corresponding date is less than the date in another cell.
The cell with the key date in it is E5 on what we will for simplicity's sake call Sheet-A
The reference table we will say is on Sheet-B in cells A1:B50.
So let's say I want to sum the values in Column B if the date in column A is <= the date in Sheet-A Cell E5
So I have:
=SUMIFS('Sheet-B'!$B1$B50,...some other conditions that work fine...,'Sheet-B'!$A$1:$A$50,"<=" & 'Sheet-A'!E5)
It does not like this. What must I do?
Thank you.

 

[SkipVought]

Hi,

Exactly whats in Sheet-A'!E5

 

[bhujanga]

Currently the date 9/1/14, but it could be any date.

 

[SkipVought]

If you select that cell and change the Number Format to GENERAL, what happens?

 

[bhujanga]

Changing it to general resulted in the date reverting back to its inherent integer value. However, since you got me looking at the formats, I noticed that when I had set the date format, it was actually considering it of the type 'Custom'. Upon changing that to 'Date' the formula began working.
Thanks.