You would expect anyone at the helm of Scottish Enterprise to be a successful businessman, or woman.

While working for the quango, they are likely to remain in business and therefore have active personal interests in one or many companies.

But such interests should be clear and transparent, without any suggestion of improper personal gain.

Those involved in dispensing large amounts of public money need to be seen to be beyond reproach.

The revelation that more than £3.4 million was paid out to companies in which Scottish Enterprise board directors have a stake in the last financial year is therefore concerning. The quango's Chairman Crawford Gillies is a shareholder in most of the firms involved, and the figures mean that businesses in which he has a stake have been given more than £10m since he took up the post in 2009. Other firms connected to board members have also received equity and grant funding in that period.

This is all normal and above board, according to Scottish Enterprise, which says all the figures are published openly and decisions about funding are made at arms length, with Mr Gillies and his fellow board members having no say in which companies receive backing. It reassures the public that robust systems help ensure funding decisions can bear scrutiny.

That is not the same as being completely transparent, however. While the information is there in the accounts, it has to be pieced together. The Scottish Enterprise register of interests lists the shareholdings of board members, but doesn't make it particularly clear when the companies involved have benefited from the agency's use of public money.

There may be nothing wrong with the process, but it is difficult for taxpayers to be sure there is no conflict of interest.

The sums awarded to companies in which Mr Crawford has a stake have risen from £1.54m in 2012-13, to £2.4m last year, to this year's £3.4m. Mr Gillies is an experienced and respected corporate director and will inevitably have such involvements, but it is a fact that he stands to gain, should Scottish Enterprise support help these companies to succeed.

Mr Gillies has announced he is to step down from his role as chair and a successor is being sought. It would not be surprising if that successor also has business interests of their own.

But the departure of the current chair is an excellent opportunity to revisit current funding arrangements at Scottish Enterprise and to put in place wholesale reforms to ensure transparency.

All those who work for public bodies should be required to be explicit about their outside interests and to set the strictest of boundaries between their work on behalf of the taxpayer and the personal gains from their other endeavours.