EXHIBIT 31 (b)

                                  CERTIFICATION

I, Richard H. Flake, certify that:

1.   I have reviewed this Form 10-Q of Provident Community Bancshares, Inc.;

2    Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of
     a material  fact or omit to state a  material  fact  necessary  to make the
     statements made, in light of the circumstances  under which such statements
     were made,  not  misleading  with  respect  to the  period  covered by this
     report;

3.   Based on my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and  other  financial
     information  included  in  this  report,  fairly  present  in all  material
     respects the financial  condition,  results of operations and cash flows of
     the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.   The  registrant's  other  certifying  officer  and  I are  responsible  for
     establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
     in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:

         (a) Designed such disclosure  controls and  procedures,  or caused such
             disclosure  controls  and  procedures  to  be  designed  under  our
             supervision,  to ensure that material  information  relating to the
             registrant,  including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
             to us by others  within  those  entities,  particularly  during the
             period in which this report is being prepared;

         (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls
             and procedures and presented in this report our  conclusions  about
             the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures,  as of
             the  end of the  period  covered  by  this  report  based  on  such
             evaluation; and

         (c) Disclosed  in this report any change in the  registrant's  internal
             control  over  financial   reporting   that  occurred   during  the
             registrant's  most recent fiscal quarter (the  registrant's  fourth
             fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially
             affected,  or  is  reasonably  likely  to  materially  affect,  the
             registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

5.  The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our
    most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,  to the
    registrant's  auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's  board of
    directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

         (a) All  significant  deficiencies  and  material  weaknesses  in the
             design or  operation of  internal control over financial  reporting
             which  are  reasonably  likely to adversely affect the registrant's
             ability  to  record,  process,  summarize  and  report  financial
             information; and



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         (b) Any fraud,  whether or not material,  that involves management or
             other employees who have a significant  role in the  registrant's
             internal control over financial reporting.



Date: May 9, 2006                               /s/ Richard H. Flake
      -----------                               --------------------------------
                                                Richard H. Flake
                                                Executive Vice President and
                                                Chief Financial Officer