This study examines urban and rural South African accounting students' perceptions of their professional skills development through participation in an extended professional project (hereafter 'project'). We find students from the rural-based institutions perceived higher levels of professional skills development than their urban-based counterparts. We argue that this reflects rural students' hitherto limited exposure to professional role models or their ways of working. This study highlights the significant benefit of using projects to foster professional skills development. Furthermore, this study underscores the need for co-designed projects between institutions (urban and rural) and industry connections to foster greater access to quality education for rural-based students.