The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) is an agency of the Department of Trade and Industry and a Schedule 3A Public Entity. The CIPC’s primary institutional mandate is derived from the Companies Act, No 71 of 2008, which establishes the CIPC as a juristic person with the following functions: Registration of Companies, Co-operatives and Intellectual Property Rights (trade marks, patents, designs and copyright) and maintenance thereof; Disclosure of Information on its business registers; Promotion of education and awareness of Company and Intellectual Property Law; Promotion of compliance with relevant legislation; Efficient and effective enforcement of relevant legislation; Monitoring compliance with and contraventions of financial reporting standards, and making recommendations thereto to Financial Reporting Standards Council (FRSC); Licensing of Business rescue practitioners; Report, research and advise Minister on matters of national policy relating to company and intellectual property law. The CIPC strives to be an enabler of smart regulation through digitisation. In this regard the CIPC mandated XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) as mechanism for digital financial reporting.