By Karolos Grohmann

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Cities considering bidding for the Olympics in the future can expect an easier and less complicated procedure after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) overhauled the two-year process.

Following the withdrawal of four out of six cities from the 2022 Winter Olympics bid process, the IOC has opted to scrap the publication of a shortlist midway through the two-year process and allow cities to submit their bid books in three parts.

They will first submit their vision for the Games, then provide the financial and legal guarantees before completing their candidacy file with their plan for Games delivery.

In previous bids, cities had to submit all three parts at once, early in the process and then hoped to make the shortlist a year before the vote.

"We now allow for more flexibility," Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi said on Sunday. "What we want is that when a city comes in front of the IOC session (for the election) that it is ready."

He said cities could still be cut at any time during the three stages but that was not the aim of the exercise.

Oslo and Stockholm as well as Poland's Krakow and Lviv in Ukraine pulled out in mid-race for the 2022 Games, scared off by the high cost of the Games or a lack of local support, dealing a considerable blow to the IOC's prime product as a financially lucrative prospect.

Rome, Paris, Budapest and Hamburg in Germany are the four current bids for the 2024 summer Games with the United States having dropped a bid from Boston but likely to replace it with another city.

"We want good value propositions," said Dubi. "We don't want expenses for expertise that is not needed."

The changes may lead to more cities reaching the final stage of the election but Dubi said that was something the IOC wanted.

"The idea is to exchange information and feedback. The intention is to go with all the cities (to the vote)." (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar)