Correct Answer: (B)

1. Calculate Total IT Employees: The grand total of employees is 300. The sum of HR and Finance employees is $60 + 140 = 200$. Therefore, the total number of IT employees across all cities is $300 - 200 = 100$.

2. Determine IT Employees in Cities Y and Z: The table provides that there are 40 IT employees in City X. The remaining IT employees for Cities Y and Z combined must be $100 - 40 = 60$. Using the 5 : 1 ratio from clue (ii), the number of IT employees in City Y is $\frac{5}{6} \times 60 = 50$, and in City Z is $\frac{1}{6} \times 60 = 10$.

3. Calculate Finance Employees in City X and City Y: According to clue (i), the number of Finance employees in City X is half of the total HR employees. Since total HR is 60, Finance in City X = $60 / 2 = 30$. Using the Finance column total of 140, we can find the Finance employees in City Y: $140 - (30 \text{ in X} + 60 \text{ in Z}) = 50$.

4. Calculate HR Employees in City X and City Z: Evaluate the row for City X. The row total is 80, and we have deduced IT = 40 and Finance = 30. Thus, HR in City X = $80 - (40 + 30) = 10$. Now evaluate the HR column. The total is 60, and we have City X = 10 and City Y = 20. Therefore, HR employees in City Z = $60 - (10 + 20) = 30$.

5. Final Calculation: The prompt requests the absolute difference between the number of HR employees in City Z (which is 30) and the number of Finance employees in City Y (which is 50). The absolute difference is $|30 - 50| = 20$.

Test Prep Tip: In DILR tables with missing values, compute the grand totals and overall column/row margins before tackling the internal cells. These margins act as algebraic anchors, preventing the need to set up complex multi-variable equations.