Exhibit 31.2

                   WASHINGTON FEDERAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES


                                CERTIFICATION

I, Brent J. Beardall, certify that:

     1.  I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Washington
         Federal, 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)) and internal
         control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
         13a - 15(f) and 15d - 15(f)) 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)  Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
                caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
                designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable
                assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and
                the preparation of financial statements for external purposes
                in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
            c)  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
            d)  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 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 function):
            a)  All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
                design or operation of internal controls over financial
                reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
                registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report
                financial information; and
            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: July 26, 2005                     /s/ Brent J. Beardall
                                        -----------------------------------
                                        BRENT J. BEARDALL
                                        Senior Vice President and
                                        Chief Financial Officer