The mandate and core functions of ISC are as spelt out in the State Corporations Act Cap 446 as follows:-

• Advise the Government on all matters affecting the effective running of state corporations;
• Report periodically to the relevant arms of Government on management practices within any state corporation;
• Report to the Auditor-General any cases where moneys appropriated by Parliament are not being applied by state corporations for the purposes for which they were appropriated;
• Conduct special investigations on any state corporation on behalf of the State Corporations Advisory Committee and the Auditor-General;
• Undertake surcharge action against any person who incurs or authorizes irregular expenditure of state corporation funds or any person who through negligence or misconduct causes loss of funds to the state corporation.

The mandate was expanded through the Legal Notice No. 93 of 2004-State Corporations Performance Contracting Regulations, with the following responsibilities:-

• Evaluating actual results of operations and management by state corporations on the basis of the agreed performance targets;
• Determining methods for evaluating performance in state corporations on the basis of specified and agreed targets;
• Developing performance evaluation criteria; and
• Advising on the administration of performance contracts.